Less than 25 per cent of Chinese like India: Survey

Wary of India’s economic growth, an overwhelming majority of Chinese have a negative opinion about India, a recent survey has found.

“Roughly a quarter (23 per cent) has a favourable opinion of India, while 62 per cent offer a negative opinion,” a survey done by the Washington-based Pew Research Center showed.

“Currently, only 44 per cent of Chinese say their southern neighbour’s expanding economy is positive for China, down from six-in-ten in 2010,” the centre said.

Meanwhile, those saying India’s growing economy is a bad thing has almost doubled over the same period. Indian views are also very similar towards China.

“Only 23 per cent of Indians describe their country’s relationship with China as one of cooperation and only 24 per cent think China’s growing economy is a good thing for India,” it said.

However, the survey showed better attitude of the Chinese towards Pakistan compared to India.

China’s relationship with Pakistan is much brighter, with nearly half of Chinese (49 per cent) seeing the relationship as one of cooperation and only 10 per cent describing it as one of hostility, Pew said.

Chinese attitude towards Russia is favourably balanced, with 48 per cent expressing a positive and 38 per cent a negative view.

In contrast, perceptions of the US and the United Nations are roughly divided, with 43 per cent holding a favourable opinion of each. Also, only about a third see the European Union (33 per cent) and Pakistan (31 per cent), positively.

Chinese perceptions of these foreign nations and institutions have mostly held steady since last year, the report said.

Similarly, Iran receives largely negative ratings, with only 21 per cent expressing a favourable view of the Islamic Republic, a decline of eight percentage points since 2011.

According to Pew, while a 39 per cent-plurality of Chinese see their country’s relationship with the US as one of cooperation, this is down sharply from 2010, when 68 per cent held this view.

Meanwhile, over a quarter (26 per cent) say the relationship with the US is one of hostility, up from eight per cent two years ago.

Similarly, 39 per cent in China view their relationship with India as one of cooperation, down significantly since 2010, when 53 per cent saw the relationship positively.

Views towards China’s long-time regional rival, Japan, are even dimmer, with a 41 per cent-plurality saying that relations between China and Japan are hostile, and only three-in-ten describing them as cooperative.

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