Looking for insight into American voters, a Chinese officals talks to Labor Studies faculty

A Chinese official visiting the United States included a stop at IUPUI to seek out advice on what’s on the minds of Indiana and America voters about to choose a new President.

Cong Peiwu, a counselor with the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China, started his trip in Washington, D.C. before stopping in Indianapolis.

At his request, Peiwu met with representatives of the Labor Studies program of the Indiana University School of Social Work. Julia Chen, with the Asia Foundation, based in San Francisco, Calif., explained the focus of the counselor’s trip is the presidential election and some of the implications of foreign policy and domestic factors that drive the election.

Earlier, he had talked with members of the IU Kelley School of Business, the League of Women Voters and state economic development officials. Following his visit here, he was leaving for New Orleans.

He spent more than hour talking with Dr. Irene Queiro-Tajalli, Interim Executive Director of Labor Studies and Executive Director of Undergraduate Studies at the School of Social Work, Professor Charles Davis and Assistant Professor Marquita Walker, both of the Labor Studies program.

For his part, Peiwu explained he was holding informal discussions with people to help understand “what’s on the minds of the American people in terms of the election.”

He was interested in knowing people’s concerns on a number of issues from free trade, globalization to energy-related issues.

For a labor prospective, Davis and Walker said workers would likely fair better under Sen. Barack OBama’s policies, the Democratic candidate, where taxes would shift to the wealthy from people and the middle class than Sen. John McCain’s the Republican candidate.

Walker noted that McCain seemed to believe in a business approach where efficiency and profit margins are more important than workers in terms of free trade. OBama’s approach would emphasize equity, but not overlooking efficiency, she noted.

To Peiwu’s question of whether globalization was still a hot as issue as it seemed to be during the primaries, Davis noted that Indiana has been dramatically affected by globalization, particularly where a number of jobs have been lost in the steel and auto industries in recent years.

Davis said his sense was unions were more in favor with OBama’s approach than McCain’s plan. 

Queiro-Tajalli noted that the Republicans managed to upset social workers when they made fun of Obama’s roots as a community organizer during the Republican National Convention.

“There was a strong reaction from social workers since many is community organizers and labor, which does community organizing,” she pointed out.

]

Dr. Irene Queiro-Tajalli presents Cong Peiwu with a IU School of Social Work portfolio