China has crucial role to play if world is to recover from Covid-19
- There are growing negative perceptions of Beijing around the globe but rather than shunning and isolating Chinese and their companies, there has to be acceptance of differences and cooperation
Anti-China sentiment in the US, with President Donald Trump blaming Beijing for the country’s coronavirus crisis and domestic ills, has unsurprisingly fuelled negative perceptions among Americans. But China’s increasingly strident approach to diplomatic and trade relations in response has also led to unfavourable opinion among a majority in all other nations surveyed, and to record disapproval in Australia, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, South Korea, Spain and Canada. Confidence in President Xi Jinping is similarly affected, with a median of 78 per cent of respondents saying they have little or no faith in his involvement in international affairs. Only in Japan and Spain are negative views not at historic highs.
Another aspect of Pew’s research points in a positive direction, though. Many of those surveyed, especially in Europe, see China as the world’s most important economic power; only in the US and its Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, is there disagreement. That may well be because China is the first major nation to get a firm grip on Covid-19 and return its economy to growth. The World Bank estimates Chinese GDP this year will grow by 2 per cent, while forecasting significant contractions for much of the rest of the world.
