Chesapeake, Virginia: Americans hold an increasingly negative view of China, blaming Beijing for failing to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and expressing increasing pessimism about the economic ties between the two nations, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center.
Pew’s polling found that 73% of Americans say they have an unfavorable view of China, the highest level in 15 years and up 26 percentage points since 2018. In a sign of the impact the pandemic has had on American perceptions, negative views of China are up 7 percentage points since March. Faith in President Xi Jinping has also deteriorated, with 77% saying they have little or no faith in him to do the right thing in global affairs, according to the survey.
“Americans see Sino-U.S. relations in bleak terms,” Pew said in the report published Thursday.
The worsening views of China among Americans come as relations between Beijing and Washington tumble to their lowest level in decades. Facing a tough re-election battle and a pandemic that has claimed an estimated 150,000 Americans, President Donald Trump has ramped up his rhetoric against Beijing after largely praising the country and President Xi.
The outlook for Washington and Beijing was very different just six months ago, when the two sides reached a “phase one” trade deal shortly before the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. exploded. Once the pandemic took root in the U.S., Trump began to criticize China, saying it didn’t do enough to stop the spread of the virus from Wuhan in its Hubei province.
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Bipartisan distrust
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for detaining Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang region, criticized China’s increasingly tight grip over Hong Kong and contested Beijing’s maritime claims in the South China Sea. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has said the U.S. position toward any accords with China should be “distrust and verify.”
Opposition to Beijing is now bipartisan: With the November election quickly approaching, Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden have campaigned on which candidate would be tougher on China. Nevertheless, the survey found that 82% of Republicans say China has done a bad job dealing with the outbreak, compared with 54% of Democrats.
On the economy, 68% of Americans see the current relationship between the U.S. and China to be in a bad place, up 15 percentage points from May 2019. More Americans also favor a tougher stance toward Beijing on trade, a move backed by 46% of those surveyed compared with 35% a year ago. Over the same period, the share of people favoring a stronger relationship fell to 51% from 62%.
In addition, almost three-quarters of Americans say the U.S. should prioritize promoting human rights in China over economic relations. And in a worrying sign for those seeking to bridge the divide between Beijing and Washington, more than one-quarter of Americans, 26%, now classify China as an “enemy,” up 11 points since 2012.
The June 16-July 14 telephone survey of 1,003 adults has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.7 percentage points.- Bloomberg
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