The International Relations Council is holding a town hall meeting Tuesday evening in Kansas City about the relationship between the United States and China.
This has been a hot topic at the presidential debates. Executive Director for the International Relations Council, Matthew Hughes says it’s a key issue that needs to be addressed.
“I think particularly when we’re looking at U.S.’ relationship with China, policy matters,” he said.
Policy that could change depending on who wins the White House next month.
“We just have to be able to maintain relationships and hopefully positive relationships with as many countries as possible,” Hughes said.
It's a relationship that a Kansas City company values.
Chris Barnett is the Executive Vice President for EyeVerify, a company based here in KC that works closely with China.
“It's all the very routine things that make up business, and we never really get into the political areas, you know leave that to the politicians and the government folks,” Barnett said. “On both sides these folks do what they think is the right thing to do, but there's a whole other completely different level at which you know just two companies staffed by regular people that just want to do business.”
Hughes said with United States and China being the biggest economies in the world, having those relationships plays an important role.
“I think when we're thinking about picking the next president of the United States, it's not just about what happens here at home, it's about remembering that the president is about to be the face of the United States to the rest of the world,” Hughes said. “And that we have to be able to interact with the rest of the world with countries around the world for a variety of reasons. For economic reasons, for security reasons, with the migration of the people that we're seeing today.”
The China Town Hall meeting Tuesday from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the KC Chamber Board Room, featuring Dr. Henry Kissinger via live stream. For more information about the event, clickhere.
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com
