appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Han Li

China’s global image has rebounded from its pandemic-era lows, with international views of both the country and President Xi Jinping improving as confidence in the United States has declined, according to a new Pew Research Centre survey.
The survey, released on Wednesday, polled more than 45,000 people across 37 countries spanning every region of the world, including many advanced economies and emerging markets, such as Argentina, Australia, France, Ghana, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and the US.
“Views of China were at or near historic lows in many countries during the Covid-19 pandemic but have since steadily increased,” Jonathan Schulman, a research associate at Pew Research Centre, said in a statement to the South China Morning Post.
“Views of the US have declined in many places, and the share of people saying that the US is a reliable partner to their country has similarly fallen sharply.”
The survey was conducted between February and May through telephone, face-to-face and online interviews, during a period when the US was becoming increasingly entangled in the conflict with Iran and other regional crises.
One of the survey’s most notable findings is the shift in relative perceptions of China and the US.
Across the 20 countries that Pew has surveyed consistently over time, all of which were included in this year’s 37-country survey, China now enjoys a higher average favourability rating than the US, with 46 per cent of respondents expressing a favourable view of China, compared with 36 per cent for the US.
In 2023, the US enjoyed a much more favourable image, with 54 per cent of respondents viewing it more positively than China, while only 19 per cent favoured China.

“I was not surprised,” Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said. “The view internationally has become far more negative about the United States in the last year or two.”
Cooper said China’s political stability under Xi has contributed to perceptions of consistency, while leadership changes in Western democracies often produce shifts in foreign policy.
Even in the US, where China is increasingly viewed as a geopolitical competitor, 27 per cent of respondents expressed a favourable view of the country, up from the lows recorded during the pandemic.
Confidence in Xi to do the right thing regarding world affairs has also risen in many countries, although opinions of the Chinese leader remain more negative than positive in most of the wealthier nations surveyed.
Pew has decades of work history studying views of the US and China and their political leaders.
The survey found that favourable views of China are strongest across much of Latin America, Africa and parts of South and Southeast Asia, while attitudes remain considerably less positive in Europe and advanced East Asian economies.
Cooper said many developing countries place greater weight on China’s economic opportunities than on concerns over political freedoms or human rights.
Despite the improvement in China’s overall image, many respondents continued to express concern about the Chinese government’s respect for personal freedoms.
Younger adults, however, were more likely than older respondents to believe China respects individual freedoms.
In Britain, for example, 30 per cent of adults under 35 agreed with that statement, compared with 13 per cent of those aged 50 and older.

The survey also found a decline over the past five years in the share of respondents who believe the US government respects the personal freedoms of its own citizens.
Israel showed the largest gap in perceptions between the two countries, with respondents expressing among the strongest support for the US and among the least favourable views of China. By contrast, several countries in Southeast Asia viewed China substantially more favourably than the US.
Liu Chang, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said the findings reflected growing international recognition of China’s development and governance.
“We welcome more Americans to visit China for more exchanges, see with their own eyes a true, multidimensional and panoramic picture of China,” Liu said. “A friendly China-US relationship is the aspiration of people in both countries and serves the two sides’ common interests.”
Liu also called on Washington to ease visa and border entry restrictions for Chinese citizens and increase the number of direct flights between the two countries.
The survey also asked respondents an open-ended question about whether they viewed China as an ally or a threat. Respondents in South and Southeast Asia often identified China as one of their country’s top allies.
By contrast, respondents in the Philippines, Japan and Australia were among the most likely to identify China as a threat.
The report also found that concerns over China’s territorial disputes with its neighbours remain high in several countries.
“These levels of concern have been high for over a decade,” the report said.
“In Japan, the Philippines and South Korea, at least eight in 10 have been very or somewhat concerned about these disputes in surveys going back to 2014.”


US Congress passes bill targeting Russia’s leading energy buyers – China and India

Huawei accused of stealing robot tech to get hands on T-Mobile’s trade secrets

China affirms support for Iran, but warns against Yemen spillover

China mulls bid for Apec free-trade area to taunt US, tantalise Asia

US-China relations

Global views of China and Xi improve as perceptions of US decline, Pew survey finds

Pew found China now holds a higher average favourability rating than the US among 20 countries tracked over time. Photo: Shutterstock

Source: Pew Research Centre

US must act quickly to counter China’s growing tech progress, lawmakers told

Witnesses told lawmakers at a Congressional round table on Tuesday that the US needs to implement new strategies to counter Beijing’s growing prowess in the global technology industry, especially AI. Photo: Shutterstock

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with US President Donald Trump after a visit to the Zhongnanhai Garden in Beijing, in May. It was hoped their summit would help ease trade tensions between the two superpowers. Photo: AP

As the US turns 250, young Asian-Americans weigh identity and China

Illustration: Henry Wong

Hannah Liu (in grey scarf, front row second from left) and Spencer Tsao (behind her) with fellow members of the board of directors at Chinatown Youth Initiatives. Photo: Handout

Hannah Liu, who moved from Beijing to New York at age seven, says she no longer feels the same need to code-switch between cultures. Photo: Handout

Taiwanese-American Spencer Tsao says Chinese culture is still too often treated as a monolith despite growing interest among Gen Z. Photo: Handout

Evan Wang, a former US national youth poet laureate, says younger Americans tend to be more optimistic about China. Photo: Handout

Phoebe McChesney says many young Americans are more focused on domestic political concerns than anniversary celebrations. Photo: Rosen-Jones Photography

New poll shows eroding global trust in Trump and America

About two-thirds of respondents had little or no confidence in Donald Trump on global affairs. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

News

Diplomacy

China

China’s image has recovered from pandemic lows while confidence in the US and its global leadership has weakened


China’s image has recovered from pandemic lows while confidence in the US and its global leadership has weakened.


Global views of China and Xi improve as perceptions of US decline, Pew survey finds

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}China’s image has recovered from pandemic lows while confidence in the US and its global leadership has weakened

China’s image has recovered from pandemic lows while confidence in the US and its global leadership has weakened