China: A Positive or Negative Influence in the World?

According to a survey by Cambridge University and YouGov, unfavorable views of China have reached new highs in many countries. Out of 26 countries surveyed, negative views of China prevailed in 16 and were shared by an increasing number of respondents in those places since the poll started in 2019. Positive views of China were shared by more people than not in 10 places, with the biggest majorities of respondents agreeing in Nigeria and Kenya, but also in Thailand, Russia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Views of China are broadly negative across most of the world's advanced economies including approximately three-quarters of respondents in Japan, Sweden, Australia, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Germany. To a lesser degree, the idea was reverberated in France, India, the United States and Canada. In Southern and Eastern Europe, feelings were more mixed but came down against China slightly. The criticism that the pandemic was badly handled as well as the rising of tensions between China and Taiwan have been noted as reasons why public opinion on China has deteriorated in some places.