Chinese Tsinghua University Research Center Releases Poll Results
'Most Disliked' Japan Tops... Followed by the US, India, and Korea
89% of Respondents Say "China's Status Will Rise"
Chinese people have the highest favorability toward Russia, while favorability toward South Korea, Japan, and the United States is relatively low.
The Strategic Security Research Center at Tsinghua University in China announced the results of the "2024 Public Opinion Survey on Chinese People's International Security Outlook" on the 30th of last month. The survey was conducted in April among 2,662 Chinese citizens aged 18 and older, asking them to rate their impressions of eight countries and regions: South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia, India, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the European Union (EU) on a scale from 1 to 5. A score of 1 means very bad, 2 means somewhat bad, 3 means neutral, 4 means somewhat good, and 5 means very good.
The survey results showed that the country with the worst impression among Chinese respondents was Japan (1.68 points). It was followed by the United States (1.85), India (2.01), and South Korea (2.1). Notably, South Korea's score dropped significantly from 2.6 last year to 2.1 this year, and Japan's score fell from 2.19 to 1.68 compared to the previous year. This sharp decline in impressions of South Korea and Japan is interpreted as a result of their active participation in U.S. sanctions that pressure China. In particular, Japan's decision to discharge contaminated water from Fukushima, which began in August last year, also appears to have influenced the negative perception. On the other hand, Russia was rated as the country with the best impression (3.66). ASEAN (2.75) and the European Union (2.61) also received favorable scores.
Meanwhile, only 17.4% of respondents said they had an unfavorable view of the American people, but 81.4% expressed an unfavorable view of the U.S. government. Additionally, 60% of respondents said that the influence of the United States has decreased over the past five years, while 90.6% said that China's influence has increased. Furthermore, 67% predicted that the global status of the United States will significantly decline within the next 10 years, and 89% forecast that China's status will rise. The security issue that Chinese people perceive as the most threatening is "international intervention in Taiwan." Other concerns with high response rates included "tensions in China-U.S. relations" and "global financial or economic crises."
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