View of China ‘far more negative’ since Xi took office

Public opinion towards China in the US and other advanced economies has turned “precipitously more negative” under President Xi Jinping, according to a global survey by the Pew Research Centre.

Xi is widely expected to win a precedent-breaking third fiveyear term as leader at a Communist Party congress that begins in Beijing on October 16, securing his status as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.

While China’s economic rise and its investments were seen as a positive for Latin American, Middle Eastern and African countries, economic competition with China was seen as a “serious problem” in advanced economies like Japan, South Korea, the US and Australia, according to Pew.

The survey found that unfavourable views of China in developed economies had hovered in a narrow band between 2002 and 2017, before worsening amid concerns that include human rights and military power. The sharpest changes were in 2019 and 2020, Washingtonbased Pew said.

The shift in opinion was triggered partly by perceptions of China’s handling of Covid-19, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, as well as a trade war with the US, aggressive foreign policy and a military build-up in the South China Sea.

In the US, 82% of respondents this year expressed an “unfavourable opinion” of China, up from 79% in 2020.

The percentage of those who said they had “no confidence” in Xi to do the “right thing regarding world affairs” was 87% in South Korea in 2022 (29% in 2015). In Britain, the figure increased to 70% in 2022 from 44% in 2014.

In “advanced economies, there is very little confidence in Xi’s handling of world affairs and very negative views of the country overall”, said Laura Silver, a lead author of the report. Some of the consequences of the deterioration included a pivot by countries like Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea towards favouring economic ties with the US relative to China, she said.

While most respondents in North America and Europe said their countries should prioritise human rights in China above economic ties, a majority in Israel, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea said it was more important to strengthen economic relations with Beijing.

China’s foreign ministry rejected Pew’s findings when asked about them. “The poll you mention was conducted among a small number of developed countries and is not representative of the views of the vast number of developing countries that make up nearly 90% of the world’s population,” foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. “President Xi Jinping is a leader who is well supported by 1.4-billion Chinese people and enjoys high prestige in the international community,” Wang said.

THE SHIFT IN OPINION WAS TRIGGERED PARTLY BY PERCEPTIONS OF CHINA’S HANDLING OF COVID-19