Reports

Global poll shows uptick on China

By Ma Liyao and Wang Chenyan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-21 07:51

BEIJING - China's image has seen an upswing after hitting a low last year, a BBC sponsored poll said on Monday.

Of the 27 countries polled on China, 41 percent see the nation as having a positive influence on the world, two points up from the previous year, while 38 percent hold a negative view, two points down.

A total of 29,000 adults were polled in 28 countries with citizens of each country asked for an opinion of the other nations.

Analysts are confident that China's image, dented to some extent last year by isolated incidents such as the Lhasa riots in the previous year, will continue to rise, thanks to the key role the country has played in helping to pull the world out of economic recession.

In last year's findings, negative opinions outnumbered the positive for the first time since the first results were released in 2005. In the first fours years, China's image was relatively positive, at around 45 percent.

The survey was conducted by GlobeScan, a Toronto-based international opinion research consultancy, together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.

Gong Li, an international strategy studies scholar at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said the country's increasingly important role in global development and peace "will be recognized by people around the world".

China has sent the largest number of peacekeeping forces overseas among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Gong said.

Besides, the country's commitment to reduce carbon emissions has been well received globally, he said.

A breakdown of the latest poll shows 12 countries have a favorable opinion of China, while 12 are negative. The other three are divided.

China's image improved considerably in such countries as the Philippines, where 55 percent hold a positive view; in the previous poll, 52 percent had a negative view.

Japan's attitude witnessed a remarkable change, with those holding a negative view dropping from 59 percent to 38 percent, while those holding a positive view soared from 8 to 18 percent.

The US' attitude toward China remains roughly unchanged, with 51 percent holding a negative view. The report did not give a figure for those holding a positive view.

Europe remains the most negative toward China. For example, in Germany, 71 percent of people hold a negative view of China, while in France, the figure was 64 percent, slightly down from the previous year.

Feng Zhongping, a European studies expert at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, attributed the low rating of China among Europeans to some of the media that tend to lead the people toward the perception of China being "a potential threat".

Gong said such prejudice is unlikely to be erased soon. However, "as long as China remains a responsible country, the world is going to judge it fairly in time".

The true picture in China is not just fast development, but also a "huge development challenge", according to British Ambassador to China Sebastian Wood, who visited eight cities across the country within 88 days of taking office three months ago.

"China combines amazing modernity with real development challenges," Wood said in Beijing on Tuesday, adding 500 million Chinese still live on less than $2 a day.

China ranks 11th in the 28 countries or regions mentioned in the poll, behind Germany, Canada, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, the United States, South Africa and India.

Positive views toward the United States for the first time exceeded the negative, with 46 percent holding positive views compared to 34 percent holding negative views.

Attitudes toward Russia were still predominantly negative, though softened, with 37 percent being negative and 30 percent positive.

CHINA DAILY