US viewed more favourably than China in 22 of 24 countries, opening largest margin since 2005: survey

The US is viewed more favourably than China around the world by its widest margin in nearly 20 years, garnering high marks in 22 of 24 surveyed countries, according to the Pew Research Centre on Monday.

The annual study by the Washington-based think tank showed a marked increase in negative views towards Beijing.

For the 2023 edition, researchers interviewed more than 30,000 respondents across 24 countries between February and April.

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Historically, global views of the two superpowers have changed in step with American political sentiment. In the final days of the administration of George W Bush, for example, opinions about the US and China ran in parallel.

During the administration of Barack Obama, favourable views of the US rose, while China's reputation either stagnated or deteriorated. In Donald Trump presidency, positive perceptions of the US declined and perceptions about the two countries were roughly even.

However, under US President Joe Biden, America's image has improved significantly, while views of China are consistently negative.

This year 59 per cent of respondents said they had a positive opinion of the US, compared with only 28 per cent viewing China favourably.

The discrepancy amounted to the largest gap in favorability between the countries documented by the think tank since it began conducting the survey in 2005.

Washington was also regarded more favourably than Beijing among developed countries, the survey found.

The margin stretched to at least 16 points in all other high-income nations (those with a gross national income per capita of US$13,845 or more), with the exception of Hungary, where the gap in favourable views between China and the US was a mere 2 percentage points in Washington's favour.

In Poland, for instance, 93 per cent of participants expressed a favourable opinion of the US, as opposed to 21 per cent saying so for China.

Meanwhile, in Italy, favourable views of Americans stood 24 percentage points higher than Chinese were perceived (60 versus 36 per cent), whilst in South Korea, the US secured a 57 percentage-point advantage (79 to 22 per cent).

In eight countries Pew designated as middle-income nations, only India and Brazil displayed such levels of pro-Washington sentiments, with margins of 39 and 24 percentage points over China, respectively.

China rated higher than the US in Kenya and Nigeria.

These results indicated that perceptions about China were usually influenced by various factors, according to Laura Silver of the Pew Research Centre.

Chinese investments were viewed positively in many middle-income nations, a sentiment that extended to the country's soft power.

But Silver said this favourable regard was not as prevalent in countries with lower corruption levels, according to anti-corruption NGO Transparency International's metrics, nor in those with more civil liberties, based on classifications by Freedom House, a Washington-based non-profit organisation.

That said, China was revealed to be held in reasonably high esteem overall. For instance, while a median of 72 per cent of respondents from the 24 countries viewed American technology favourably, 69 per cent held positive views of Chinese technology.

In 10 nations, including the US, China's technology scored better. Two-thirds of American adults rated Chinese technology as above average or the best globally, compared to 56 per cent who voiced similar sentiments about their own country's offerings.

"In the middle-income countries, people tend to see Chinese technological products as relatively well made [and] relatively inexpensive, and tend to see some issues related to data security, though they also ascribe that to American companies," Silver said.

"People are thinking about general Chinese technology, perhaps at the level of their science programme or their AI programme, for example."

As to which nation was thought to spearhead the global economy, opinion was divided. The results this year suggested the US edging China, although perspectives have shifted in recent years.

In five countries - four in Europe along with Australia - a larger share of respondents saw the Chinese economy as the global front-runner over the American economy.

In Italy, 50 per cent of those surveyed viewed China as the world's predominant economic power, as opposed to 31 per cent who believed it was the US. Among British and French respondents, perceptions were split equally between the two superpowers.

Silver said the data would have to be monitored in view of China's recent economic slowdown. Pew observed a similar situation after the Lehman Brothers crash of 2008, which put the US into a long recession, she added.

At the time, many respondents to the think tank's survey tended to mention China as the leading global economy.

Silver believed the survey results did not necessarily suggest a global decline in China's standing. For instance, young adults voiced mixed views about Chinese President Xi Jinping and generally more negative opinions of Biden.

These perspectives could be attributed to limited exposure to information among this group, she said, as well as the younger generation's distance from pivotal events in Chinese history, like the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989.

"China is seen quite positively on a number of measures, including technology, and generally it seems to be less of an interventionist power than the US," Silver added. "It can't be seen as clear-cut as one country is winning and the other is losing."

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

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