{"id":12992,"date":"2016-03-30T11:15:47","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T16:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/6-facts-about-how-americans-and-chinese-see-each-other\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:18:44","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:18:44","slug":"6-facts-about-how-americans-and-chinese-see-each-other","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/03\/30\/6-facts-about-how-americans-and-chinese-see-each-other\/","title":{"rendered":"6 facts about how Americans and Chinese see each other"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Disapproval<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Barack<\/a>
U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a press conference on Nov. 12, 2014, in Beijing. (Photo by Feng Li\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Washington this week to participate in a major global summit on nuclear issues<\/a>. Xi will also meet on Thursday afternoon with President Obama. The meeting comes at a time of ongoing tensions between the two countries. The U.S. and its Asian allies continue to express concerns about Beijing\u2019s aggressive posture in the South China Sea<\/a>. Washington would like to see Beijing put more pressure on North Korea to halt the development of its nuclear program. Xi\u2019s crackdown on domestic dissent is drawing increasingly harsh criticism<\/a> from many in the U.S. And Donald Trump and his competitors have made the economic challenge from China a major issue in the Republican presidential primary contest.<\/p>\n\n

As Pew Research Center\u00a0surveys<\/a>\u00a0have shown, many of these tensions are reflected in American public opinion. Meanwhile, the Chinese\u00a0public<\/a>\u00a0has its own complaints about the U.S. \u2013 in particular, most believe the U.S. is trying to contain a rising China.<\/p>\n\n

Here are six key findings about American public opinion toward China, and Chinese public opinion about the U.S.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

Overall, Americans and Chinese do not have especially positive views of each other<\/strong>. In our 2015 survey<\/a>, just 38% of Americans have a favorable view of China, compared with a global median of 55% across 39 countries. Only a slightly higher share of the Chinese public \u2013 44% \u2013 give the U.S. a positive rating, in stark contrast with the global median of 69%.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

\"Americans<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

On a list of possible issues with China, Americans are most concerned about economic issues, cybersecurity and human rights<\/strong>. Specifically, the amount of U.S. debt held by China and the loss of jobs to China are Americans\u2019 top worries, but cyberattacks and Beijing\u2019s human rights record aren\u2019t far behind.<\/p>\n\n

Republicans are more critical of China compared with Democrats<\/strong>. From U.S. debt held by China to the loss of U.S. jobs and China\u2019s growing military power, Republicans are far more concerned about these issues as a very serious problem than are Democrats. The exception is China\u2019s impact on the environment, which worries Democrats more.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Many Americans think China will ultimately become the world\u2019s top superpower, and most Chinese agree<\/strong>. Americans are closely divided on this question: 46% say China either already has or will someday replace the U.S. as the top global power, while 48% say this will never happen. However, 67% of Chinese think their country has supplanted the U.S. or will in the future; only 16% say it won\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n\n

Most<\/strong> Chinese think the U.S. is trying to hold their nation back<\/strong>. More than half (54%) of Chinese say the U.S. is trying to prevent China from becoming as powerful as the U.S. Only 28% say the U.S. accepts that China will become as powerful.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

\"Younger<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Young people in both countries express more favorable attitudes of the other nation<\/strong>. Americans ages 18-29 are more than twice as likely as those ages 50 or older to have a favorable opinion of China (55% vs. 27%). Similarly, 59% of Chinese adults under 30 give the U.S. a positive rating, compared with 29% of those 50 and older. And younger Chinese also find U.S. soft power more appealing \u2013 for example, 59% said they like American ideas about democracy in our 2012 poll<\/a>, compared with 40% of the 50 and older group.<\/p>\n\n

Note: This post was originally published on Sept. 22, 2015, and has been updated.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chinese President Xi Jinping\u2019s tour of the United States comes at a time of many tensions between the two nations. Our surveys capture American public opinion toward China, and Chinese public opinion toward the U.S. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[119,449,26,279,273,118],"bylines":[937],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[506,514],"research-teams":[525],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-12992","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-china-global-image","category-cyberattacks","category-international-affairs","category-online-privacy-security","category-technology-policy-issues","category-us-global-image","bylines-richard-wike","formats-short-read","regions-countries-china","regions-countries-international","research-teams-global"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":585,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/03\/30\/6-facts-about-how-americans-and-chinese-see-each-other\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":24096,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":24096,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":24096,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":24096,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":24096,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp?w=640&h=360&crop=1","width":640,"height":360,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":24096,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.22_chinaUS-jpg.webp?w=640&h=360&crop=1","width":640,"height":360,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"6 facts about how Americans and Chinese see each other","description":"Chinese President Xi Jinping\u2019s tour of the United States comes at a time of many tensions between the two nations. 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