Negative views of China rose in the past year in 14 economically advanced countries, according to a survey that shows public opinion of the United States’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic is even worse than that of the East Asian giant.
The nonpartisan Pew Research Center surveyed 14,276 adults across 14 countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the U.S. For many of the wealthy countries, this year’s unfavorable views toward China are historically high.
The U.S. is one of those countries, seeing a 20% increase in unfavorable views toward China since Donald Trump took office as president.
The U.S. also shares a negative international image, drawing unfavorable views from all nations surveyed with the exception of South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. itself.
Then there’s how the two nations have handled the coronavirus pandemic.
While survey respondents in most countries view the U.S. slightly more favorably overall than China, nearly view the U.S. response to the pandemic as worse than China’s. People in Western European countries surveyed say the U.S. response as more than 20 percentage points worse than China’s, while also reporting more trust in Chinese President Xi Jinping than in President Trump.
[MORE: Amid a Pandemic and Unrest, America Appears Unrecognizable to Its Allies]
The survey was conducted between June and August of 2020, and took place over the phone. Notably, Pew Research Center was unable to include some countries previously surveyed due to limited access during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pew’s survey results build on last month’s survey, which reveals the rate of unfavorable views toward the U.S., along with the low rate of confidence in Trump.
Among some of the survey’s notable findings:
— A median of 84% of those surveyed said the U.S. has handled the coronavirus outbreak poorly.
— Each country besides the U.S., South Korea and Japan rank China as the world’s leading economic superpower, but those same countries show unfavorable views toward China
— Australia has seen the biggest increase in negative views toward China, with 81% of people seeing the country unfavorably.
— For the first time, more than half of young Americans surveyed had negative views toward China.
The views of China may in part be driven concerns over human rights in the country. Earlier this week, more than three dozen countries — primarily in Western Europe — criticized Beijing’s treatment of minorities and the impact of a new national security law on human rights in Hong Kong.
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Wealthy Democracies Hold Negative Views of Both China and the U.S. originally appeared on usnews.com
