Then you will win a lot of FRiends here.
You have mentioned American Christian missionaries in China as evidence of America's high regard for Chinese people.
I could mention another fact which most people are not aware of.
President Franklin Roosevelt (lived from 1882 to 1945) is usually ranked (not always for better) up with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as amongst America's greatest presidents.
Roosevelt's family was quite wealthy and young FDR was a child of privilege.
Not everyone knows that the Roosevelts made their money in China (ahem, I won't mention how), and President Roosevelt's high regard for the Chinese was a key factor in the demands he made of Japan in 1941.
Those demands included that Japan must withdraw its military forces from China.
This Japan was unwilling to even discuss, and as a result decided to attack US forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
So, you could say that, among other reasons, World War II for the United States was all about defending Chinese from a murderously oppressive foreign army.
My point is: personal friendships between US and Chinese people go back a long way in history.
Oh, yes I agree. And the foundation is centered on the missionary period between the Civil War and WWII. Pearl S. Buck was one of such figures as she wrote the book "The Good Earth". It became a best selling novel at the time and won a Pulizter Prize. It was sad that Mao's wife didn't allow Pearl Buck to visit China during Nixon's visit.
But yes, Roosevelt was looking for ways to help China during WWII. He even wanted to send 500 B-17's to China in the years before Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, there weren't sufficient pilots in China that could fly them.