Global public opinion poll reveals an increasingly negative view of China
China could do with an image makeover, judging by the increasingly negative perceptions of the country revealed in a global public opinion poll
First up the good news for China: around the world people increasingly see the country as an emerging superpower, or indeed a superpower already. The bad news? They don't much like China. Public opinion, especially in the US, towards China is at an all-time low.
That's according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Centre, which surprised Bruce Stokes, director of the global economic programme at the Pew Research Centre's Global Attitudes Project. "This duality - seeing China as a superpower and yet the declining favour - seems to contradict itself, but maybe not. Maybe people see it, but they don't like it."
One of the reasons that favour towards China is declining in Europe is because people believe that Chinese do not respect their own people
The survey throws up another seeming contradiction - the Chinese are the most optimistic people in the world, confident about the economy and their future, yet when pressed they reveal a host of worries and concerns - but more of that later.
Listing the countries that like China and those that don't sounds like schoolyard politics: the Russians, Pakistanis, Chileans, Venezuelans, Brazilians and many in Africa are all fairly well disposed towards China, while the US leads the pack of countries with an increasingly negative perception of China, a club that includes Germany, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan.
The Japan figure is especially low, with only 5 per cent having a favourable opinion.
