China's growing economic strength is seen by most people as positive, but the country's rise as a global superpower is not making it popular with neighbors in the Asia-Pacific, a survey released on Thursday showed.
The survey of nearly 39,000 people in 34 countries by the Pew Research Center also showed the world had an overwhelmingly negative view of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Over the past 70 years, China has transformed itself from an economic backwater to the world's second-largest economy and a major source of investment around the world.
Some 58% of people across 16 countries recognized China's strong economy as mutually beneficial, while 52% said they see Chinese investment as positive, according to the survey.
However, China's growing economic clout has not won it friends in all corners of the globe.
Emerging markets look at China's economic power most favorably, but its neighbors in the Asia-Pacific take a much more negative stance.
The Pew survey highlighted that positive evaluations of China declined in the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, India, South Korea and Japan between 2002 and 2019. The drop was driven by wariness of China's economic influence and its increasing military muscle.
The six countries were all skeptical of receiving Chinese investment. 75% of Japanese viewed Chinese investment as bad, followed by Australia, where 60% saw it negatively.
Indonesia was the least concerned of the six countries but the 48% number was still above the median number of 40% of respondents who viewed Chinese investment negatively.
However, majorities in Australia and Japan thought that China's strong economy was mutually beneficial.
A median of 79% of people across the six countries saw China's military strength as a bad thing, including nine out of 10 in Japan and South Korea. All of the six countries named the US as a more dependable ally.
Views of China's leader, Xi, were equally critical, with only 29% of respondents saying they trusted him to do the right thing.
Overall, people's views of China were mixed, with a median of 40% holding positive views and 41% negative.
Negative views of China have increased sharply in Canada and the US since 2005, by 22 percentage points and 13 percentage points, respectively. Both countries are locked in diplomatic disputes with Beijing.
Unfavorable views of China were highest in developed countries, according to the Pew Center.
The survey also found that countries that received more exports from China tended to have more negative views of it, though that was also strongly associated with their GDP per capita.
Conversely, countries with higher rates of perceived corruption viewed China more favorably.
More countries regarded the US as the most reliable ally, but both powers were seen as a threat, though in different regions.
America was viewed as more threatening by most respondents in Latin American as well as the Middle East and North Africa. China was a greater cause for concern in the Asia-Pacific. China's growing military might was viewed as negative by 58% of people across 18 countries.
On average, more people preferred stronger economic ties with the US than China, but that depended on perceptions of economic power.
The survey showed that the United States was still regarded as the world's top economy.
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