Public opinion on China turns negative in Western Europe and Asia-Pacific, survey finds

In US and Canada, meanwhile, more than 60 per cent and 67 per cent of those polled hold unfavourable views on China – the worst results since 2007

Beijing’s controversial efforts to expand the country’s influence seen in split across 32 countries included in poll by Pew Research Centre

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More people in Bulgaria, Poland and Lithuania held positive views of China rather than negative, according to the survey. Photo: AP

Published: 8:00am, 2 Oct 2019Updated: 11:11pm, 2 Oct 2019

Public opinion about China has taken a negative turn across most of Western Europe and its neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a new survey by a Washington-based think tank.

And in both the United States and Canada, more than 60 per cent and 67 per cent of respondents, respectively, held negative views on China – the worst result since the Pew Research Centre began polling in the countries on the subject in 2007.

The think tank cited the protracted trade tensions between China and the US and the high-profile arrest in Canada of Chinese tech giant Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou as the reasons.

Some 34,904 people were interviewed in 32 countries from May 12 to August 29 for the annual survey. It was released on Monday, as China was preparing to celebrate its National Day on October 1.

Beijing’s controversial efforts to expand its influence globally were seen in the split across the 32 countries in the survey, which found that a median 41 per cent of people had a favourable view of China, and 37 per cent had a negative view.

Balloons are released during the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic in Beijing on Tuesday. The survey was released the day before the celebrations. Photo: AP

In Western Europe, opinions were in general quite negative – for example, the majority of people polled in Sweden, or 70 per cent, had an unfavourable view of China, and it was 53 per cent in Spain.