離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES》Negative view of PRC up sharply in democracies
Chinese national flags are pictured on a road leading to a facility believed to be a re-education camp on the outskirts of Hotan in China’s Xinjiang region on May 31 last year. Photo: AFP
By Huizhong Wu / AP, TAIPEI
Negative perceptions of China have increased sharply among people in several advanced democracies, especially in Australia and the UK, a Pew Research Center survey released on Tuesday showed.
The survey comes as China is engaged in multiple trade and diplomatic disputes with its neighbors and other nations, driven in part by a more aggressive diplomatic approach.
The survey conducted in 14 democratic nations with advanced economies showed a majority of people had an unfavorable view of China.
It was conducted via telephone from June 10 to Aug. 3 among 14,276 adults across the 14 nations.
In Australia, 81 percent of respondents said that they have an unfavorable view of China, a rise of 24 percentage points from last year.
The increase corresponds with higher tensions in the bilateral relationship after Australia led the call for an international investigation into the origins of COVID-19.
China responded on the trade front, suspending imports of Australian beef, putting high tariffs on barley and starting an anti-dumping probe into imports of wine.
While the survey showed that Australia had the sharpest increase in negative attitudes toward China, other nations also showed an upward trend: Those with an unfavorable view toward China hit 74 percent in the UK, a rise of 19 percentage points from last year; 71 percent in Germany, a rise of 15 points; and 73 percent in the US, a rise of 13 points.
The 14 nations surveyed were Australia, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US.
The margin of error for the survey ranged from 3.1 percentage points in South Korea to 4.2 percentage points in Belgium.
In most nations surveyed, those with higher income levels were equally likely as those with lower levels of income to hold the negative views. The negative views also held across education levels.
In nine of the nations — Australia, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US — negative views have reached their highest level in the 12 or more years that the center has been conducting the survey, the Pew Research Center said.
Many democratic nations, including those surveyed, condemned China earlier this year when it pushed through new national security legislation in Hong Kong that critics say infringes on rights promised to the former British colony when it was handed to China.
One of the most important factors with regard to China’s reputation abroad has been COVID-19. The coronavirus emerged late last year in Wuhan and has since spread around the world.
China has been criticized for not being fast enough in its initial response and for attempting to cover up early reports of the outbreak.
The survey found that a majority held a negative view of how China handled the COVID-19 outbreak, with a median of 61 percent across the 14 nations saying that China handled it poorly.
Even more respondents — 84 percent — said that the US had handled the outbreak poorly.
Those who believed China did poorly in dealing with the pandemic were much more likely to view the nation in a negative light.
People in the surveyed nations also do not trust Chinese President Xi Jinping （習近平）, with a median of 78 percent saying that they do not have confidence in him to do the right thing in world affairs.
Only US President Donald Trump had a worse reputation among those surveyed, with a median of 83 percent saying they do not trust him.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
