People in developed countries view China increasingly unfavourably, with criticism being the strongest in the United States, Germany and South Korea, according to a study published on Wednesday (June 29th).
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The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center in 19 countries, showed a deterioration in China's image in recent years, with concerns crystallizing around its increased military and economic power, its practices in of human rights, as well as questions about the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unpopularity reaches record highs
A record proportion of Americans (82%), South Koreans (80%), Germans (74%) and Canadians (74%) have an unfavorable opinion of China, according to this study.
Chinese unpopularity also reached near record levels in Japan (87%), Australia (86%) and Sweden (83%).
The French also take a dim view of Beijing, with 68% of them having an unfavorable opinion, below the record of 72% in 2008.
China's reputation suffered particularly badly in South Korea after Beijing's economic reprisals against Seoul in 2017 following the installation of an anti-missile system intended to ward off a possible attack by North Korea, no China.
Beijing has also taken economic sanctions against Australia after measures from Canberra, where concern over China has grown in recent months after Chinese spy ships were detected near Australian waters.
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The image of China has even darkened with nations with which it has better relations, such as Greece, where 50% of respondents had an unfavorable opinion, unheard of.
In Israel, where favorable and unfavorable opinions were almost equal, most respondents wanted economic relations to be given priority even without raising the issue of human rights.
The study looked at the responses of 24,525 adults surveyed between February 14 and June 3.
