Sino-American Relations Viewed from Both Sides

"His son's studying overseas"

"These goods will be sold overseas."

"Do you like Chinese or foreign movies?"

There are 174 countries in the world, but when Chinese people talk about "foreign" and "overseas," nine times out of ten they mean the U.S.

The United States is our most important ally, our largest market, and the home of many of our most talented people, yet the results of a survey released this April by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission revealed that public satisfaction with Sino-American relations is declining.

At the end of June, John H. Chang, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' deputy director of North American affairs, stated in a public speech that U.S.-R.O.C. relations are "friendly and close," the best they have been in the past ten years.

Just what is the current state of relations? What does Fredrick Chien, on the front line of contacts between the two countries as the ROC's representative to the U.S., have to say about them? And how has the public felt about them over the years?