In Australia and China, public trust in each other nosedives amid spat: surveys

Two surveys, conducted separately in Australia and China, show that deteriorating bilateral ties between Beijing and Canberra are negatively impacting public sentiment towards the other.

According to the annual poll conducted by the Lowy Institute in Sydney, 94 per cent of Australians want Canberra to look for other markets to reduce its economic dependence on China, while fewer than a quarter of respondents trusted China to act responsibly in the world " down from 52 per cent in 2018.

In reference to the response on economic dependence, the think tank said in a report accompanying the findings: "This is the single largest point of agreement in the history of the Lowy Institute Poll. In 2019, 74 per cent of Australians said Australia was too economically dependent on China."

While about 52 per cent had expressed confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping's ability to handle global affairs two years ago, the figure fell to 22 per cent of the 2,448 Australian adults polled between March 16-29 this year.

A survey done for the first time by Australian Studies Centre of the Beijing Foreign Studies University and the Global Times Research Centre, also released on Tuesday, found similarly downbeat sentiments expressed by 2,105 Chinese respondents towards Australia.

The survey " conducted in April and June in 10 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao and Wuhan " found that most Chinese respondents were "not optimistic" or "uncertain" about improving Sino-Australian relations.

Almost half of those surveyed (49.5 per cent) said the US was the "biggest irritant or obstacle" in Beijing-Canberra ties, while 32.5 per cent and 13.7 per cent attributed the frayed relations to "ideological differences" and "internal politics within Australia" respectively.

Hu Dan, the deputy director of the Australian Studies Centre " which is said to be China's largest institution researching Australia " said even though there had been previous polls on Chinese sentiments toward foreign countries, none were specifically conducted between China and Australia.

"From now on, this survey will be conducted annually so that we can compare changes in outlook throughout the years. This will be good for bilateral relations and facilitate mutual understanding," Hu said.

He added that some of the questions in the Chinese survey were borrowed from the Lowy Institute, with which it maintained good communications.

"We know the Lowy Institute very well. What we do is complementary to one another so there is no competition to speak of," Hu said.

The Lowy Institute is a non-profit organisation that relies largely on donations and grants for funding, including from the Australian government.

The surveys come amid heightening tensions between Australia and China. Canberra angered Beijing by calling for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, and since then, China has slapped trade sanctions on Australian products and warned its students and citizens not to travel there, citing the threat of racist attacks.

China slapped anti-dumping duties on Australian barley for five years as diplomatic tensions escalate between the two trading partners. Photo: Bloomberg alt=China slapped anti-dumping duties on Australian barley for five years as diplomatic tensions escalate between the two trading partners. Photo: Bloomberg

China is Australia's largest trading partner, accounting for about 36 per cent of its exports. As of last year before the outbreak, China was the top source of international students for Australian universities.

The Lowy survey found Australian views of China had hardened in the past year, with more respondents than last year saying the country was a "security threat" (41 per cent) and approving the government's imposition of "travel and financial sanctions on Chinese officials associated with human rights abuses" (82 per cent).

Only 39 per cent supported conducting joint military exercises with China, while 57 per cent said Canberra should restrict joint scientific research between China and Australia in defence and security-related fields.

But while 78 per cent believed its alliance with the US was vital for Australia's national security, a 2 percentage point increase over 2018, the percentage of those who said they trusted US President Donald Trump to do the right thing in world affairs fell from 43 per cent two years ago to 22 per cent this year.

University of Tasmania law professor and political analyst Richard Herr said the Lowy poll illustrated the "conundrum Australia faces in pigeonholing relations with China where our key security guarantor has gone missing under Donald Trump".

"Dealing with China as a 'frenemy' has had complications for Australia over the last five years or so in finding a safe economic relationship, but as the poll shows this is still much easier than finding a sustainable and compatible strategic posture for Australian national interests," Herr said, using a term to refer to "part friend, part enemy".

University of Western Australia senior honorary research fellow Greg McCarthy argued the Lowy poll merely reflected public sentiment formed by how issues were represented in the media.

"Given over the last 12 months the Australia media has uniformly been highly critical of China, then the poll's recording of 23 per cent trust in China reflects what people read and see in the media," he said.

McCarthy said without a wider array of polling, it was difficult to know exactly what to make of the distrust or acceptance of China.

"[The poll] will be used as evidence in Australia of the breakdown in trust between the Chinese and Australian governments," he said. "The obvious way to break the diplomatic deadlock is some form of symbolic gesture by Australia. If the poll is taken as truth this will be even more difficult to achieve and reinforce both government's distrust of each other."

Wang Peng, associate fellow at Renmin University of China's Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, said the less-than-friendly image of China as portrayed in the Lowy poll was partly due to the strategic competition between China and Australia over the Pacific island nations. He said China and Chinese businesses wanted to work with the countries " who are also willing partners " for mutual benefit.

"But for a long time, Australia has hegemonic control over these countries who in turn rely on Canberra for their security. So even though the Chinese intention is to work with these countries for mutual benefit, Australia sees it as a violation of their hegemony in the region," Wang said.

In the Chinese survey, over 80 per cent of respondents said Australia's comments and actions on the purported Chinese origins of the coronavirus were "biased".

About two-thirds said Australia was "more of an economic power", with the rest describing the country as a "political, ideological or military threat" to China.

However, more than seven in 10 agreed Sino-Australian relations were "fairly important" or "rather important".

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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