From a Chinese perspective, the main threat to their country isn’t global economic instability, climate change or the Islamic State terror group. Instead, more people worry about the U.S., according to a survey by the Pew Research Center released Wednesday.
Some 45% of Chinese said they see U.S. power and influence as posing a major threat to their country, up from 39% in 2013, according to Pew’s 2016 China survey. That puts the Chinese between the Japanese (52%) and Europeans (25%) in similar surveys, it said.
Among Chinese, 35% said instability in the global economy posed a major threat and 34% expressed such anxieties about climate change—well below the U.S. and Europe. Only 15% of Chinese cited Islamic State, which Pew said was the lowest by far of any of the countries it surveys, including Japan and India.
While younger and better-educated respondents were generally more favorable in their views of the U.S., more than half of all respondents said they believe the U.S. is trying to prevent China from becoming an equal power.
Under President Xi Jinping, rhetoric about “foreign forces” seeking to undermine China has ramped up, with schoolchildren being asked to play games in recent months such as “Spot the Spy.” Mr. Xi’s administration has also stressed insulating China from foreign influences, be it Western values in the classroom or foreign NGOs.
The Pew poll found a similar unease among Chinese, with 77% of respondents saying they believe their way of life needs to be protected against foreign influence, up 13 percentage points since 2002.
The latest survey was based on face-to-face interviews with 3,154 adults nationwide between April 6 and May 8, and had a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points, according to the nonpartisan Pew center, which is based in Washington.
Almost nine of ten respondents said China’s economy is in good shape — and more than three-quarters said they expect it to improve over the next year. But the survey found fears about health and safety issues have deepened.
More than 40 percent of respondents, for example, said they see the safety of medicines as a very big problem, up from 9% in 2008. Concerns about food safety experienced a similar increase.
China’s expanding middle class has in recent years expressed more outrage over the choking levels of pollution that have accompanied the country’s breakneck industrialization. Pew’s survey found that half of those polled said China should reduce air pollution — even if it means slower economic growth.
Researchers in Canada this year said illnesses related to air pollution accounted for 1.6 million deaths in China in 2013.
Fear about regional tensions was largely unchanged from recent years, Pew said, with 59% expressing concern that territorial disputes between China and its neighbors could lead to military conflict.
The survey also found that like many Americans, Chinese respondents have a dim view of both U.S. presidential candidates, with a slight preference for Hillary Clinton. According to the poll, 37% had a favorable view of Ms. Clinton, with 35% holding an unfavorable opinion and the rest with no view. Donald Trump was seen favorably by 22% of respondents, with another 40% viewing him unfavorably, and the rest having no opinion. http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2016/10/05/what-chinese-fear-most-the-united-states/
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