Both Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) outline their views on U.S. policy toward China in a new edition of the American Chamber of Commerce in China’s China Brief magazine. Both candidates call for increased trade cooperation with China and say the United States should work more closely with China to fight climate change and nuclear proliferation.

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Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called for an “economic surge” (MSNBC) on Wednesday. “Our surge has succeeded in Iraq militarily. Now we need an economic surge to keep jobs here at home and create new ones,” he said. He also said the United States needs to “open new markets” to its products.

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Ahead of the Beijing Olympic games beginning next week, a public opinion study from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs looks at American attitudes toward rising China. The study, released Monday, surveyed 1,500 Americans around the country over two weeks in July. Some of the report’s key findings include: Read more »

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will unveil his “New Energy for America” plan (Chicago Sun-Times) on Monday in Lansing, Michigan. Under the plan, Obama would grant a rebate to help Americans cope with high gas prices, seek to create five million new “green jobs,” and eliminate U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil in ten years, says the Obama campaign.

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Stephen Bosworth, Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, laid out some key issues for the next president regarding U.S. policy toward Asia in a speech before the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Monday evening.

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In a statement on Wednesday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) congratulated Israel on its 60th Independence Day. “The United States will always stand with Israel to ensure it can defend itself against threat of terrorism and violence, from as close as Gaza and as far as Tehran,” Obama said.

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Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) signed on Thursday as a cosponsor to the Fair Currency Act, a bill aimed at penalizing China and other countries that manipulate currency. Obama said he was cosponsoring the act because China has been “dumping goods into American markets while failing to open its own; violating intellectual property rights; and grossly undervaluing its currency thereby giving its goods another unfair advantage.”

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Nearly one week before the Pennsylvania primaries, which have featured economic and globalization issues, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) Monday detailed her plan for “stepped up enforcement of trade laws.” Her plan includes numerous measures to crack down on what she called China’s “unfair trade practices.”

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“It took the Bush administration seven years and more than 3 million lost manufacturing jobs to finally permit U.S. anti-subsidy laws to be applied on imports from China. But that decision could be revoked at any time. We know we can’t rely on the whims of the Bush administration to support U.S. manufacturers. That’s why I’m calling for changing our laws to send China and other non-market economies a simple message: ‘If you subsidize your exports and hurt our manufacturers, you’ll pay the price.’”

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Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) both discussed some of their foreign policy views as they relate to religion Sunday night in separate appearances on CNN’s Compassion Forum. Clinton said U.S. policy toward China has been “incoherent” and reiterated her call to President Bush to boycott the Olympic opening ceremony. She also said as president she would attempt to “rebuild America’s moral authority and demonstrate our commitment to compassionate humanitarianism.”

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