A new survey by the Pew Research Center published on Thursday found that India is the only middle-income country in which a majority of the population holds unfavourable views of China.
India
In India, along with Argentina and Brazil, the survey found that negative views have touched historic highs this year. According to the survey, 67 percent of Indians have unfavourable views of China this year.
Indians, apart from Australians, Canadians, Israelis, and South Koreans, are particularly likely to believe China is “doing nothing at all to help with global peace and stability,” the survey found.
In India, it speculated that the peak sentiment was in part due to the many military conflicts along the contested border with China, which may have contributed to the 21-percentage point increase in unfavourable opinions.
A median of 67% of adults in 24 countries express an unfavorable view of China, while 28% have a favorable opinion.https://t.co/ZmpSafY0e1 pic.twitter.com/ZHJASN4cJP
— Pew Research Global (@pewglobal) July 27, 2023
International Views
The Washington DC-based think tank found that international views of China are also largely negative across the rest world.
A major reason for the negativity in Israel and some Western nations, such as Canada, France, Spain and Sweden, centres around the belief that China “does not take into account the interests of countries like theirs.” In fact, around half or more say China “doesn’t consider them at all.”
Moreover, a median of 71% believes that China does “little or nothing at all to contribute to global peace and stability,” compared with a median of 23% who say it is “doing a great deal or a fair amount.”
In most high-income countries surveyed, negative views of China currently stand at or near historic highs. In most countries, this does not reflect a significant increase over the last year; rather, negative views have simply remained high in recent years.https://t.co/ZmpSafY0e1 pic.twitter.com/bfIkstEXY6
— Pew Research Global (@pewglobal) July 27, 2023
Additionally, China is also largely viewed to be “an interventionist power.” A median of 57% of respondents said that China “does interfere a great deal or a fair amount in the affairs of other countries,” while a median of 35% said, “it does not do so much or at all.”
In a separate survey published by the organisation on the same day, 50% of the Americans surveyed said that China is the greatest threat to the US — almost three times the share naming Russia (17%).
Positive International Views
However, a majority of the respondents in three middle-income countries — Kenya, Mexico, and Nigeria — even gave China a positive rating.
Only in the three sub-Saharan African countries surveyed, as well as in Indonesia, does around half or more of the public believe that China listens to their country.
The positive view could also be tied to China’s vast economic investments in the said countries. Around half or more in six middle-income countries said that their national economy has “benefited a great deal or a fair amount” from Chinese investment. In Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, around seven-in-ten people say so.