New Delhi: A median of 67% of adults in 24 countries expressed unfavorable views about China, with India and Brazil having seen the highest increase in negative opinion about the Asian giant, a new Pew Research survey has shown.
The report, released last Friday, is based on phone and in-person surveys of around 30,000 people in 24 countries surveyed between February and May this year.
Based on that survey, it was found that a median of 67% stated that they had a negative view of China. Further, a median of 71% think that China does not contribute to global peace and stability.
An even higher median of 76% of people believe that China doesn’t take into account the interest of their countries, while a median of 57% say that Beijing interferes in the internal affair of other countries to a fair amount.
In high-income countries, the negative opinions among the population range from 50% in Hungary and Spain to 87% in Australia and Japan.
In contrast, among the eight middle-income countries surveyed, a majority in Kenya, Mexico and Nigeria even gave China a positive rating. India was the only middle-income country where the majority at 67% had unfavourable views about China, followed by Brazil at 48% and South Africa at 40%.
Among the global south – and even across the globe, India was marked out in the survey for the sharp downturn in views about China.
“Negative views in India rose from 46% in 2019 to 67% in 2023. During this same time period, a conflict along the India-China border has repeatedly flared up,” said the survey.
This was a rise of 21 percentage points in four years. The only other country to record a similarly steep increase of 21 percentage points in negative opinion about China is Brazil, from a low of 25% in 2017 to 48% in 2018.
Excluding 2023, the recent annual surveys done in India show that the number of Indians who responded that they had an unfavourable view of China was usually less than 50%.
In fact, there had been a downswing in negative opinion about China from 41% in 2013 to 32% in 2015. This period seems to have coincided with an outreach to China with President Xi Jinping hosted on the banks of Sabarmati by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, followed by the Indian leader travelling to Beijing in May 2015.
The negative opinion about China in India started to climb throughout the 2016, 2017 and 2019 surveys. The Pew Research Centre had not surveyed the eight middle-income countries since 2019 due to the covid-19 pandemic.
In 2017, Indian and Chinese troops came face-to-face over China building a road on territory claimed by Bhutan. The nine-week stand-off was ‘resolved’ with both sides withdrawing their troops.
Thereafter, the stand-off at various points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh began in May 2022, which led to 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese soldiers being killed in the first fatal clash at the border in four decades. While disengagement has taken place at some points, Indian and Chinese soldiers continued to face off at Depsang and Demchok.
Besides, the survey found that the confidence in the Chinese President “to do the right thing regarding world affairs” is low, with the exception of African nations. Among the mid-income countries, the ratings for President Xi have worsened per se compared to their last survey of 2019. The share of those with little to no confidence in Xi went up by 21 percentage points in the last four years in India, followed by Mexico (17), Brazil (15 points), Argentina (12 points) and Nigeria (10 points).
As per the survey, around a third of the people questioned in 24 countries see China as the world’s leading economic power, with most including all middle-income countries giving that title to the United States.
At the same time, at least half in most of the eight middle-income countries say that investment from China has benefited their country’s economy. But, Indians were again the most sceptical, with 40% asserting that Chinese investment has not helped the domestic economy.
While there is a disparity in views about China across high-income and middle-income countries, there are also similarities that run across the 24 countries. “A median of 69% describe China’s technological achievements as the best or above average relative to other wealthy nations, with similar shares in high- and middle-income countries. A median of 54% also see China’s military as among the best in the world,” said the report.
In answer to additional questions about Chinese technological products in the eight middle-income countries, a median of 62% said that Chinese technology was well-made. In India, 52% said that Chinese tech products were “poorly-made”, even though Chinese mobile phones dominate the market.
Further, a larger median of 45% say that Chinese products protect their personal data, while 40% say that they made it unsafe. The numbers are reversed in India, where 51% believe that their personal data in Chinese products is unsafe.