The majority of Chinese consider US-China disputes, global pandemic and “international military intervention in Taiwan” the top threats facing China, a poll conducted by a Beijing-based think tank published on Wednesday last week showed.
The poll from the Tsinghua University Center for International Security and Strategy, which was discussed in a report by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post on Sunday, surveyed Chinese on what issues they felt most threatened China’s security.
The poll found that 74.1 percent of respondents believe there is a “high” or “relatively high” security risk to China due to US-China disputes.
Photo: REUTERS
The risk of a global pandemic and international military intervention in a conflict over Taiwan were the second-highest concerns cited by respondents, tying at 72.4 percent each in the poll.
The news report said that the US was the country most able to affect China’s security, and that most Chinese had a more favorable attitude toward Russia than toward the US.
In order, the countries that respondents felt have the greatest effect on China’s security were the US at 52.7 percent, Russia at 17.7 percent and Japan at 17.1 percent.
In terms of their opinion about other countries, 59.1 percent said they had a “very negative” or “relatively negative” opinion of the US, while 57.5 percent answered similarly about Japan. Asked about Russia, 7.8 percent expressed a negative opinion.
“What deserves our attention is that the people of China and the United States have negative perceptions of each other’s countries,” center director Da Wei (達巍) said, adding that perceptions have gradually deteriorated as the relationship between the two countries worsened.
Da was likely referring to the most recent annual survey by the Pew Research Center in Washington, which showed that a record 83 percent of US respondents held a negative view of China.
The poll also asked respondents about their opinion on the Russia-Ukraine war, to which 80.1 percent said they believed that “the US and other Western countries” were responsible for the war, while 11.7 percent said that Ukraine was responsible and 8.2 percent said that Russia was responsible.
The poll, which surveyed 2,661 people, was conducted in November last year.
At the time of the poll, restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic had not yet been lifted in China, and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) was preparing to meet with US President Joe Biden for the first time since Biden took office.
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