The U.S. public's opinion of China remains overwhelmingly negative this year, even as the two governments continue to encourage exchanges between their peoples.
A Pew Research Center poll published on May 1 found 81 percent of Americans held unfavorable views of China, including 43 percent of respondents whose views on the country were very unfavorable.
It was the fifth year in a row that about eight in 10 Americans had returned similar sentiments. Other surveys suggest the Chinese hold similar views of the United States.
Officials in Washington describe China as a generational challenge to the existing international order; others go further, calling the Communist Party a threat to America's long-term security and prosperity—most in the U.S. tend to agree.
Beijing has its own ideas about a just and fair global order, one in which the rise of its soft and hard power can be viewed on its own merits, rather than through a Western-centric lens.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently returned from a trip to China, where he and Chinese President Xi Jinping both called for more "people-to-people exchanges," a catchall phrase for exercises that increase mutual understanding.
Negative opinions of the Chinese government were already on the rise before Beijing's initial handling of the COVID-19 outbreak caused a surge in unfavorable views, the polling data suggests.
Today, 79 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in Xi, according to the Pew survey. China's most powerful leader in a generation is expected to remain in post until 2027, if not longer.
Although views of the United States have rebounded since the world emerged from the throes of the pandemic, Pew found around seven in 10 Americans believed China's influence in the world was growing.
These results echo polling done in developing regions such as Southeast Asia, where Beijing is a major player thanks to its economic heft.
When forced to choose between the two strategic rivals, 50.5 percent of respondents said the Association of Southeast Asian States, or ASEAN, should align with Beijing versus 49.5 percent who opted for Washington, according to a survey published in early April by Singapore's Yusof Ishak Institute.
In the U.S, 61 percent of respondents to the Pew survey were "at least somewhat concerned about China's territorial disputes with neighboring countries," said the report's authors, Christine Huang, Laura Silver and Laura Clancy.
Some of those neighbors include U.S. treaty allies like the Philippines, South Korea and Japan, where views on China have long been sour.
This year, 6 percent of those polled described China as a "partner," 50 percent chose the description "competitor," while 42 percent opted for the word "enemy."
"The American people do not see Beijing as a partner. Indeed, most view the CCP as a competitor or an adversary. This common-sense perspective should give President Biden pause. He has insisted for four years that America can cooperate and compete with the CCP simultaneously. In pursuit of this impossible objective, the Biden administration has left significant competitive leverage on the table," said Michael Sobolik, senior fellow in Indo-Pacific studies at the American Foreign Policy Council and author of Countering China's Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance.
Sobolik told Newsweek: "Washington needs to accept what the American people already realize: the U.S. and China are in a Cold War, and America needs to win."
Older Americans, particularly those over the age of 65, tended to be more critical of China and its increasing international influence. As in past years, Republican voters were more likely to be wary of China's rise than were Democrats, according to the data.
Negative assessments of the U.S. economy were also associated with unfavorable views of China and its influence on economic conditions in America.
Among the 96 percent of Pew respondents who said China had at least some influence on the U.S. economy, 79 percent said that influence was negative, while 18 percent felt the opposite.
Nearly half of Americans—49 percent—said "limiting the power and influence of China" should be a top priority in U.S. foreign policy, while 42 percent said it should be given some priority.
Reached by email, a U.S. State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the specific Pew poll, but referred Newsweek to Blinken's remarks last month in Shanghai, where he said: "[O]ne thing I want to make sure is that, in both of our countries, we develop and we have rising generations who know each other, who know about each other, and hopefully, who understand each other. And that's the best way to make sure that we're managing this relationship between our countries responsibly, effectively, and hopefully for the good of the people not only in our countries but around the world."
Pew's survey of 3,600 U.S. adults was conducted from April 1-7.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
John Feng is Newsweek's contributing editor for Asia based in Taichung, Taiwan. His focus is on East Asian politics. He ... Read more
