Most Americans view China as country of greatest threat to the US, says survey

Name: Chinese army conducts live-fire drill in high-altitude area
Uploaded: 2020-10-13T21:55:09.000Z
Duration: 1 min 43 s
Description: Chinese army conducts live-fire drill in high-altitude area

Think tank report finds relatively broad-based support among thought leaders for banning Huawei Technologies from 5G networks

Four-fifths of national security and other experts in Asia, Europe and the US believe America would win a war right now with China, according to poll

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US President Donald Trump talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as Xi arrives for dinner at the start of their summit at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida in April 2017. Photo: Reuters

Mark Magnier

Published: 5:55am, 14 Oct 2020Updated: 9:50pm, 14 Oct 2020

A majority of Americans view China negatively and believe it is the country that presents the greatest threat to the United States, according to a survey of Asian, European and North American respondents by a prominent US think tank.

Four-fifths of national security and other experts in Asia, Europe and the US believe America would win a war right now with China, according to the poll of the American public and of Asian, European and American “thought leaders” – experts from business, academia, human rights and national security communities – released Tuesday by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. (CSIS).

But that number fell to just over half when respondents were asked who would come out ahead a decade from now. China has been expanding its armed forces rapidly, although the US remains far ahead by most metrics.

The report, Mapping the Future of US China Policy, also found relatively broad-based support among thought leaders for banning Huawei Technologies from 5G networks, even as many recommended staying selectively engaged with China and not following the Trump administration’s “decoupling” strategy.

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Chinese army conducts live-fire drill in high-altitude area

“Americans and others around the world have given up on the idea that the goal should be to change China into a free-market economy,” said Scott Kennedy, Chinese business and economics chair at CSIS.