South Koreans side overwhelmingly with US over China, especially on Covid-19 cooperation, poll suggests
- Only 4 per cent back China overall in survey in the lead-up to a South Korean election that could affect the balance Seoul strikes between the powers
- Large majorities side against Beijing on tech, trade and South China Sea, and 99 per cent say they prefer the US as a partner on Covid-19 cooperation
Asked which country they supported in the growing rivalry, 68 per cent chose the US, in a survey commissioned by the Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper and conducted by the Asia Research Institute at Seoul National University.
As for which country was expected to come out on top in the great power competition, 54 per cent said the US, against 12 per cent who said China, the newspaper reported.
However, 60 per cent said that they believed China could become the dominant power in East Asia, twice as many as the 32 per cent who said the US could assume that role.
The survey, polling more than 1,000 adults by email and text message in December, came with South Korea gearing up for its presidential election on March 9. The election could produce a shift in Seoul’s balancing act between China, its close neighbour and largest trading partner, and the US, a long-standing treaty ally.
President Moon Jae-in, who has maintained a strategic ambiguity to avoid leaving his country playing a zero-sum game in relations with the two powers, is to step down in May because of the one-term limit.