Adversaries

I saw an article on Yahoo today that posed the question: Are America and China enemies or adversaries? Speaking from the perspective of an American who has been living in China for the better part of three years, I feel like I can answer that question, as least as far as the people are concerned.

Chinese people do not consider American people to be their enemies. They consider themselves to be in competition with America, which would probably make them adversaries in many situations. But enemies? Never

Chinese people, on the whole, are very found of Americans. Everywhere I go, I am greeted by a smile. Sometimes, it's kind of a nervous smile, because the Chinese are not used to people smiling and waiving at them. But it is generally a smile.

Of course, the Chinese people do not have a very high opinion of our president - which is understandable. Neither do I. At least not as a person. I will admit that he is accomplishing several of the things he set out to do. I just don't care much for him as a person.

I can't speak for the Chinese government, though. I do not know how it looks at America. I do know that some of its spokespeople are not very flattering, and need to show the same type of respect to the leader of our country as we show to theirs.

So the answer to the question, then, is that while we may be adversaries, we are not yet enemies, and hopefully never will be. As a people, we both have a lot to gain by cultivating a friendship.