Some still can't see the wood for the trees in Sino-US ties

It's no exaggeration to say China-US relations have in recent times been hijacked by the South China Sea issue, at least in the headlines. Some Chinese and US think tank experts I talked with blamed the media for making the situation worse by portraying a picture very different from reality. Despite being a journalist, I agree with them even though a few think tanks in Washington have also fanned the flames for their ulterior motives. In Washington, many people know exactly which ones I mean.

Indeed, many people fail to see the wood for the trees in the hugely consequential Sino-US relationship. Many aspects of that relationship hardly make headlines, especially in the mainstream US media. It's just like the way they have been covering the 2016 US presidential election.

Last Friday, I attended a breakfast meeting of the US-China Strong Foundation, which re-branded itself just a month ago from the original 100,000 Strong Foundation. After accomplishing its early goal of sending 100,000 US students to China, an initiative taken by US President Barack Obama in 2009 and fully supported by the Chinese government, the foundation is now expanding its mission, which includes the 1 Million Strong-to help increase the number of US K-12 students learning Mandarin to 1 million by 2020 from the present 200,000. This ambitious initiative was also proposed by Obama during President Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington last September.