Negative views of China and Xi Jinping at record levels: international survey
- Disapproval reached historic highs in most countries polled by Pew Research Centre, with coronavirus handling among the factors
- Perceptions took the biggest hit in Australia, by 24 percentage points from last year, and worsened 19 points in Britain and 13 points in the United States
The findings come at a time when China has adopted a more aggressive diplomatic approach towards the international community and is locked in disputes with other countries on multiple fronts ranging from trade to military.
In Britain, 74 per cent of respondents now viewed the country in a negative light – up 19 points. And in the United States, negative views of China were up 13 points from last year to stand at 73 per cent, which is nearly 20 percentage points higher than when US President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.
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In nine of the surveyed countries – Spain, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, the US, Britain, South Korea, Sweden and Australia – negative views reached their highest level in the 12 or more years that the survey has been conducted there, according to the Pew Research Centre.