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HONG KONG—China is falling behind the U.S. in global esteem, continuing to hover near all-time lows, despite improved marks for its handling of the pandemic, a new poll in 17 advanced economies found.
Asked which country they would prefer closer economic ties with, a growing majority of respondents across the populations named the U.S. over China, the survey by the Pew Research Center found. That reflects a rebound in America’s global image since the Trump administration gave way to the Biden administration, Pew found in another poll published in early June.
The findings of the survey of 18,850 people on four continents about China’s image, conducted from February to May, suggest that Beijing’s aggressive diplomacy abroad and authoritarian policies at home are shaping negative perceptions.
As China’s Communist Party prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding on Thursday, the country is viewed unfavorably by around three-quarters or more of the people polled in Japan, Sweden, Australia, South Korea and the U.S., according to Pew.
Perceptions of China plummeted last year, partly driven by what a majority of respondents said was Beijing’s mishandling of the pandemic. This year, roughly half of respondents said China handled it well.
The most positive assessment of China’s Covid-19 response came from Europe. In countries such as Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands, approval was up by more than 15 percentage points from last year. Canada and the U.S. were more divided, and people in the Asia-Pacific region—with the exception of Singapore—tended to be negative.
People can acknowledge the country’s success in limiting infections while remaining skeptical of the efficacy of Chinese vaccines and associating the country with the origin of Covid-19, said Grzegorz Stec, an analyst at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies, or Merics.
And though the pandemic might have accelerated the deterioration of China’s image in democratic countries, there were long-term concerns before Covid-19, said Luke Patey, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.
In 15 of the 17 places surveyed, more than 80% of the respondents said that China doesn’t respect its people’s personal freedoms.
Mr. Patey pointed to Beijing’s tightening grip on Hong Kong, its policies toward Uyghurs in Xinjiang, fears of a military confrontation over Taiwan, and its economic practices and diplomatic style.
“Chinese diplomats assert Beijing’s position in local matters abroad, causing issues and giving people there the impression that China is trying to control their discourse,” said Mr. Patey, who studies China’s global ambitions and the international response to them.
With Covid-19 receding as people’s primary lens for viewing China, more issues are being seen through the framework of democracy versus autocracy, said Mr. Stec of Merics.
Confidence in Chinese leader Xi Jinping to do the right thing regarding world affairs remains low in 16 of the 17 places surveyed. In contrast, belief in the U.S. president has risen since President Biden took over from former President Donald Trump. In Sweden, for example, 85% expressed confidence in Mr. Biden, as opposed to 15% in his predecessor.
“The fact that President Biden is liked will feed into China’s worry that the U.S., Europe and some East Asian countries will get together and form an anti-China coalition,” Mr. Stec said. In March, the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the European Union placed coordinated sanctions on Chinese officials over Beijing’s treatment of mainly Muslim Uyghurs.
In most places, an often wide majority of respondents said they preferred strong economic relations with Washington over Beijing. In South Korea, for instance, 75% favored the U.S.—up from 39% in 2015. In a 2020 poll by Pew, most European countries named China as the world’s dominant economic power.
The U.S. is the world’s largest economy, though China’s is on track surpass it. The Centre for Economics and Business Research, a London-based research firm, now forecasts that will happen in 2028, five years earlier than its pre-pandemic projection of 2033.
While a large majority of people in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand favor giving priority to human rights even at the expense of economic ties, people in East Asia are split on the matter, the Pew survey found.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-falls-behind-u-s-in-global-image-survey-data-shows-11625061602
Asked which country they would prefer closer economic ties with, a growing majority of respondents across the populations named the U.S. over China, the survey by the Pew Research Center found. That reflects a rebound in America’s global image since the Trump administration gave way to the Biden administration, Pew found in another poll published in early June.
The findings of the survey of 18,850 people on four continents about China’s image, conducted from February to May, suggest that Beijing’s aggressive diplomacy abroad and authoritarian policies at home are shaping negative perceptions.
As China’s Communist Party prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding on Thursday, the country is viewed unfavorably by around three-quarters or more of the people polled in Japan, Sweden, Australia, South Korea and the U.S., according to Pew.
Perceptions of China plummeted last year, partly driven by what a majority of respondents said was Beijing’s mishandling of the pandemic. This year, roughly half of respondents said China handled it well.
The most positive assessment of China’s Covid-19 response came from Europe. In countries such as Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands, approval was up by more than 15 percentage points from last year. Canada and the U.S. were more divided, and people in the Asia-Pacific region—with the exception of Singapore—tended to be negative.
People can acknowledge the country’s success in limiting infections while remaining skeptical of the efficacy of Chinese vaccines and associating the country with the origin of Covid-19, said Grzegorz Stec, an analyst at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies, or Merics.
And though the pandemic might have accelerated the deterioration of China’s image in democratic countries, there were long-term concerns before Covid-19, said Luke Patey, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.
In 15 of the 17 places surveyed, more than 80% of the respondents said that China doesn’t respect its people’s personal freedoms.
Mr. Patey pointed to Beijing’s tightening grip on Hong Kong, its policies toward Uyghurs in Xinjiang, fears of a military confrontation over Taiwan, and its economic practices and diplomatic style.
“Chinese diplomats assert Beijing’s position in local matters abroad, causing issues and giving people there the impression that China is trying to control their discourse,” said Mr. Patey, who studies China’s global ambitions and the international response to them.
With Covid-19 receding as people’s primary lens for viewing China, more issues are being seen through the framework of democracy versus autocracy, said Mr. Stec of Merics.
Confidence in Chinese leader Xi Jinping to do the right thing regarding world affairs remains low in 16 of the 17 places surveyed. In contrast, belief in the U.S. president has risen since President Biden took over from former President Donald Trump. In Sweden, for example, 85% expressed confidence in Mr. Biden, as opposed to 15% in his predecessor.
“The fact that President Biden is liked will feed into China’s worry that the U.S., Europe and some East Asian countries will get together and form an anti-China coalition,” Mr. Stec said. In March, the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the European Union placed coordinated sanctions on Chinese officials over Beijing’s treatment of mainly Muslim Uyghurs.
In most places, an often wide majority of respondents said they preferred strong economic relations with Washington over Beijing. In South Korea, for instance, 75% favored the U.S.—up from 39% in 2015. In a 2020 poll by Pew, most European countries named China as the world’s dominant economic power.
The U.S. is the world’s largest economy, though China’s is on track surpass it. The Centre for Economics and Business Research, a London-based research firm, now forecasts that will happen in 2028, five years earlier than its pre-pandemic projection of 2033.
While a large majority of people in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand favor giving priority to human rights even at the expense of economic ties, people in East Asia are split on the matter, the Pew survey found.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-falls-behind-u-s-in-global-image-survey-data-shows-11625061602
