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U.S. public opinion of China has turned sharply negative since President Xi Jinping came to power, with 82% of Americans now holding unfavorable views of the Chinese communist state and its leader, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center.
By contrast, those holding unfavorable views of China stood at 47% in 2018, the center said in poll results made public Wednesday. A total of 83% of poll respondents said they had no confidence in Mr. Xi.
“The Chinese Communist Party is preparing for its 20th National Congress, an event likely to result in an unprecedented third term for President Xi Jinping,” the center said in announcing the results Wednesday. “Since Xi took office in 2013, opinion of China in the U.S. and other advanced economies has turned precipitously more negative.”
The poll also found that 67% of those surveyed regard China’s power and influence as a mounting threat. That is an increase of 23 percentage points since the question was first asked in polling in 2013.
China’s militarization of disputed islands in the South China Sea, Beijing’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the trade war during the Trump administration and China’s human rights abuses were cited as reasons for the growing dislike of the Chinese regime.
“A large majority of Americans see China unfavorably amid concerns about China’s policies on human rights, its partnership with Russia and other factors,” the center stated. “Views of China continue to be broadly negative as Americans view multiple issues in the bilateral relationship as very serious problems for the U.S.”
A total of just 16% of those polled said they hold favorable views of Beijing. The Pew poll was based on surveys of 1,897 Americans’ views of China between March 2020 and March 2022.
An estimated 80% of South Koreans said they disliked China, based on Beijing’s response to the pandemic and economic retribution targeting Seoul for its decision in 2017 to deploy U.S. THAAD anti-missile systems.
Negative views among Japanese have been longstanding, based on historical factors and China’s clashes with Japan over the disputed Senkaku Islands. A total of 87% of the Japanese polled hold unfavorable views of China.
Australian public opinion toward China was found by Pew to be 86% negative.
Views of Mr. Xi, who is expected to be appointed to a third five-year term as president and head of the Communist Party next month, were very negative in the Pew poll. Respondents specifically noted Mr. Xi’s global ambitions: “Their leader seems to be on a path to try to control too much of the world,” an Australian told the pollsters.
“China is an autocratic dictatorship led by a tyrant, Xi Jinping; the Chinese Communist Party is an amoral kleptocracy interested only in its own survival and not at all concerned with the welfare of its citizens,” said a U.
