Australians highlight China's economic importance, but place greater weight on US ties

Australians are conflicted in their attitudes towards China, seeing the country as a great economic opportunity while at the same time feeling uneasy about growing Chinese investment, according to a Lowy Institute poll on public opinion and foreign policy issued yesterday.

The poll also found that more Australians place higher importance on the country's relationship with the United States, even though they recognise China is the most important economy for Australia.

Dr Michael Fullilove, executive director of the independent Australian think tank, was quoted as saying by the institute that the poll "illustrates why a central policy issue for future Australian governments will be managing the Australia-US-China strategic triangle".

A total of 76 per cent of 1,002 respondents identified China as the most important economy to Australia at the moment. This is 13 percentage points up since 2009.

However, strong economic ties do not necessarily mean a harmonious relationship, with sentiment towards China having cooled slightly. The poll showed that 57 per cent of Australians thought their country was allowing too much investment from China, up from 56 per cent last year.

As well as fear of Chinese investment, more than half of Australians see China as a military threat, unchanged from last year's result and down from a 2009 peak.