"Our recent survey shows that American companies remain committed to the Chinese market over the long term," said Craig Allen, president of the United States-China Business Council (USCBC).

He made the remarks during an online speech at the "Connecting Shandong with Fortune Global 500" USA special event, which was held on Sept 29 in Jinan, capital of Shandong.

Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council [Photo by Zhao Huanxin/China Daily]

"Eighty-three percent of our member companies considered China to be either the top or among the top five priority markets in their global strategy, with nearly 70 percent saying that they are optimistic about the market's commercial prospects," said Craig.

"China is producing about 30 percent of global economic growth, more than Europe, Japan, and the US combined, so naturally American businesses want to have a growing presence in China."

The USCBC is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization representing over 200 American companies doing business with China. Most of its members are well-known Fortune 500 companies.

Craig also mentioned that the trade tensions have caused considerable difficulties for both American and Chinese companies.

"Trade frictions are eroding the competitiveness of US companies. Over four fifths of respondent's report being impacted by US-China tensions."

He said that the China-US phase-one economic and trade deal is beneficial to the world economy.

He pointed out that Shandong is an important province for many member companies of USCBC.

He said that USCBC has members in a variety of industries that are operating in Shandong, such as manufacturing, healthcare, and high-tech development.

"We applaud Shandong government's willingness to promote higher level of opening-up, particularly through the free trade zones, as well as efforts to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment."