388. The American and Chinese Futures Totally Intertwined

In today's The New York Times, April; 15, 2015, famous Thomas L. Friedman told his readers, "the American and Chinese economies and futures today are now totally intertwined."  As a history lover, I am no longer interested in today situation. However, today is developed from yesterday. Readers of this blog and Dr. Dave Wang's works on the founders and China have realized that the new Americans and ancient Chinese have been intertwined since the beginning of this country.

The United States and China "almost take for granted the ties that bind them today: the $600 billion in annual bilateral trade; the 275,000 Chinese studying in America, and the 25,000 Americans studying in China; the fact that China is now America’s largest agricultural market and the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt; and the fact that last year Chinese investment in the United States for the first time exceeded American investment in China." See Thomas L. Friedman's op-ed article, What's Up With You.

Indeed, this was unthinkable for the founders of this country when they opened the trade with China 228 years ago. The founders understood well it was essential for the new nation's survival to establish commercial relations with China. That's why so many founders involved in the pioneering sail of the Empress of China in 1784, immediately in the wake of signing the Treaty of Paris.