A recent survey published on Tuesday by the renowned American polling organization, the Pew Research Center, revealed that China’s international image is unfavorable, especially among high-income countries and neighboring countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
The survey found that out of 18 high-income countries surveyed, 15 countries hold negative views towards China. In the European and American regions, Sweden (82% negative) and the United States (81% negative) topped the list in terms of negative perceptions towards China.
In the Asia-Pacific region, countries like Japan, Australia, South Korea, the Philippines, and India have high percentages of negative views towards China, with Japan and Australia leading at 87% and 85% respectively. South Korea stood at 71% and the Philippines at 64%.
The survey in the Asia-Pacific region also touched upon the tensions in the South China Sea, where China’s military expansion has raised concerns among neighboring countries. 91% of respondents from the Philippines expressed worry, especially regarding the serious territorial disputes with China in areas near Ren’ai Reef (Second Thomas Shoal).
Furthermore, 87% of respondents from South Korea, 86% from Japan, and 81% from Australia also indicated concerns. These three countries, as Asia-Pacific partners of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), expressed worries about China’s actions impacting global peace and stability.
On the day the report was released, NATO leaders in Washington were discussing the Ukraine conflict, expressing concerns about China as well. China’s role in the Russia-Ukraine war has raised alarms and discontent within NATO.
According to the Pew survey, there has been a growing divergence in views towards China globally between high-income and middle-to-low-income countries this year. In North America and Europe, except for Greece, all 12 surveyed countries had a higher ratio of negative views towards China compared to positive ones.
However, out of 17 middle-to-low-income countries surveyed, 14 countries held relatively positive views towards China. Particularly in Africa and Latin America, all 10 countries in the Pew survey indicated that their views towards China were at least slightly more positive than negative.
In Asia, countries with a significant Chinese population like Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand held relatively positive views towards China. Thailand had the highest percentage, with 80% of respondents expressing a positive view towards China.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping also received widespread negative evaluations in neighboring countries. In Japan, 91% of Japanese respondents expressed either having “no confidence” or “no confidence at all” in Xi Jinping’s actions on international affairs, making it one of the most negatively viewed countries among the 35 surveyed nations.
The survey conducted from January 5 to May 21 this year involved 44,166 people from 35 countries. The results were based on a combination of phone, face-to-face, and online interviews conducted by various polling units, with a margin of error ranging between 2.4 to 4.9 percentage points.
As a means of external expansion, China has been actively promoting foreign aid. However, this move has been labeled as the “money diplomacy” policy by Chinese public opinion, highlighting a disregard for the welfare of its own people. The Belt and Road Initiative is seen as a core component of China’s current foreign strategies.
In September 2022, the UK’s Financial Times cited data from the William & Mary’s Global Research Institute’s AidData, based in the US, stating that since the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, China’s investment projects in 165 countries have totaled over $843 billion. However, this has also burdened poor countries with hidden debts amounting to as high as $385 billion.
In May of this year, Aaron Tesfaye, a political science professor at William Paterson University in New Jersey, highlighted in an interview with Radio Free Asia (RFA) that the Belt and Road projects in recent years have brought debt and environmental issues, leading to a declining leadership position for China in developing countries.
A similar survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2022 indicated that the authoritarian rule of the Chinese regime has intensified, leading to an increasingly negative global perception of China, especially among most developed nations.
In a similar survey from 2020, due to China’s authorities’ early concealment of the COVID-19 pandemic, poor human rights records, and aggressive diplomatic stances, major economies such as the US, Germany, France, the UK, and Japan reached record high levels of negative views towards China.