Chinese are much more negative about US than Europe, survey finds
- Study finds more educated, urban Chinese see the US less favourably than they view European nations, with Germany the favourite
- Findings offer counterpoint to recent Pew survey results showing negative views of China at near or historic highs in many of the 19 countries polled
“Chinese views of European countries and the US diverge sharply, despite these countries being typically grouped together as ‘the West’ in mainstream English and Chinese discourses,” the researchers said.
The attempt to capture Chinese public opinion towards the US and Europe was designed and co-published by researchers from the National University of Singapore, Canada’s University of British Columbia and Rice University in the United States.
“The Chinese viewed the US much more negatively than Europe,” authors Adam Liu, Xiaojun Li and Songying Fang said in a paper published in January by the peer-reviewed open access Journal of Current Chinese Affairs.
The authors asked 2,083 Chinese respondents to choose from five options ranging from “very favourable” to “very unfavourable” and “don’t know” to describe their views towards the US and nine European countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Britain.
An overwhelming majority had an “unfavourable” view of the US, with 43 per cent holding a “very unfavourable” perception. Only 23 per cent of respondents took a “very” or “somewhat” favourable view.