Trump’s ‘vacillating’ China policy causing allies’ crisis of confidence: security report
‘Sweeping destruction – rather than careful reforms and policy corrections – is the order of the day’, Munich Security Report 2026 says
The United States has appeared “more threatening” over the past year, while perceptions of China have improved markedly in parts of the Western world, according to a global risk survey released on Monday.
The report included the Munich Security Index, which tracked major risks across 11 countries.
It drew on surveys conducted last year of more than 11,000 people from all Group of Seven powers – the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan – and original Brics members Brazil, India, China, and South Africa, excluding Russia.
In eight of the 10 countries other than the US, more respondents viewed Washington as an ally than as a threat.
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But the poll, carried out in November, revealed a universal decline in US approval ratings. The favourable-minus-unfavourable margin – a measure of net favourability – shrank from the previous year’s gauge across all the non-US nations covered.