Opinions of China improve while views of US drop in Pew survey; China’s continuous enhancement of international image ‘an inevitable trend’: expert

The public perceptions of China have improved over the past year based on a new survey released by Pew Research Center, while views of the US have declined, according to a Bloomberg report.

A median of 32 percent of respondents in high-income countries held a favorable opinion of China, according to a report by Pew Research Center released on July 15, the highest level in six years. In contrast, the figure for the US fell to 35 percent, the lowest since 2017, Bloomberg reported.

Although more of the people surveyed have a positive view of the US than of China, this gap is closing as views of the US have become more negative while views on China have turned more positive, according to the report.

The findings were based on surveys of more than 28,000 adults conducted from January to late April across 24 countries, according to the Pew Research Center.

Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times that over the past 40 years, China has not only achieved national prosperity but has also grown from a regional emerging country into a country with international influence. He said China's continuous enhancement of its international image and influence has become an inevitable trend.

In eight countries, people have a more positive view of the US than China, according to the Pew report. This is especially the case in Israel, where 83 percent view the US favorably, compared with 33 percent who take this stance on China. People in some countries that neighbor China, including South Korea, Japan and India, are much more likely to see the US than China favorably, said the Pew survey. 

In seven other countries, people have a more positive opinion of China than the US. These include Spain, South Africa, Turkey, Greece, Kenya, Indonesia and Mexico. In Mexico, 56 percent of adults view China positively and 29 percent say the same of the US, according to the Pew report. 

Meanwhile, in nine countries, including five in Europe, views of the US and China are similar, said the Pew survey.

According to Li, in this survey, the seven countries that have a more favorable view of China than the US are quite representative. Most of them are in key geopolitical positions or hold significant influence in their respective regions, which suggests that the improvement of China's image may have a "spillover effect," and in the future, the favorable view of China is expected to rise in more countries and regions.

In contrast, countries with a relatively high favorability toward the US often have particular conditions. For example, Israel is highly dependent on the US, while Japan, South Korea and India tend to rely on the US to counterbalance China, Li said. Whether this situation is stable remains to be seen. The uncertainty and impact of US foreign policy may become more pronounced in these countries by the end of the year, and public opinion trends could still change, Li noted.

According to the Pew survey, about a third of Canadians today have a favorable view of the US and China. But the share who view the US favorably has decreased by 20 percentage points from 2024, while the share who view China favorably has increased by 13 points.

"If we look just at the 10 high-income countries where we have surveyed annually for the past nine years, views of the US and China are now closer together than at any point since 2018," said the Pew survey.

In half of the countries they surveyed this year, more countries say China is the world's top economic power than say this of the US, according to the Pew survey.

Based on a "China-LAC mutual perception survey" released in early July, which was conducted by the Global Times Institute (GTI), in collaboration with the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Center for Chinese and Latin American Studies, the vast majority of respondents in both China and Latin American and Caribbean countries recognize each other's economic development potential. 

For China's development prospects, 50 percent of Latin American respondents think it has "a very good development prospect with rapid economic growth," and 34 percent believe it has "a good development prospect with stable economic growth," according to the survey. 

An increasing number of people in various countries are realizing that while the US remains one of the world's leading powers, the negative effects it brings are intensifying, Li said. Whether in the security domain, where it promotes "camp-based" politics, or in the economic field, where it instigates trade wars and advocates economic nationalism, the US is causing greater uncertainty and security anxiety for countries around the world. At the same time, the frequent use of military intervention in international affairs by the US has further damaged its image, Li said.