Six in 10 Americans hold dim view of China amid trade war, survey shows
- Beijing’s growing military power a concern for 80 per cent of those polled
- 24 per cent of Americans regard China as top threat to US for the future
Rising tensions over trade have dimmed Americans’ opinions of China.
A new Pew Research Centre poll finds that 60 per cent say they have an unfavourable view of China – up from 47 per cent last year to the highest proportion since Pew started asking the question 14 years ago.
The survey results released on Tuesday found that 24 per cent of Americans regard China as America’s top threat for the future, the same percentage that said so of Russia. North Korea (12 per cent) was the only other country to draw double-digit concern.
The Trump administration and Beijing have been clashing for more than a year over allegations that China steals trade secrets, pressures foreign companies to hand over technology and unfairly subsidises the country’s own companies.
China in turn has imposed tariffs on US$110 billion in US products.
Still, the poll finds that only 41 per cent of Americans believe that China’s growing economy is a bad thing for the United States, compared with 50 per cent who called it a good thing. Respondents were far more worried about China’s rising military power: 81 per cent said it was bad, 11 per cent good.
Half said they had no confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping, the same as last year. In addition to being locked in a trade war with Trump, Xi has overseen a crackdown on dissent in China and a more combative foreign policy in East Asia.
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Americans 50 and older were most likely to hold negative views of China (67 per cent, compared with 58 per cent of those ages 30-49 and 49 per cent of those 18-29).
Likewise, 69 per cent of Americans with a four-year college degree expressed disapproval of China, versus 57 per cent of those who did not have a degree.
Pew surveyed 1,503 adults from May 13 to June 18.
