By Ankit Panda
Americans see a range of problems in U.S.-China relations–some with good reason, others less so.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to arrive in the United States on a historic state visit at a time of high tensions between the two countries. The first half of this year saw tensions rise as the U.S. protested China’s brazen island-building in the South China Sea. Matters got worse with when the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), a federal agency, reported a breach on an unprecedented scale, which several U.S. government officials and legislators alleged had been orchestrated by Chinese agents. Finally, in recent days, we’ve seen murmurs that Washington could put a new executive order to work, imposing sanctions on Beijing for its cyber espionage activity.
Beyond the declining government-to-government situation, public perceptions of China continue to be poor in the United States. Pew Research has released the results of a new survey, conducted between April and May this year, showcasing how Americans perceive various threats from China. The results reveal quite a bit about where public attitudes in the United States are heading with regard to China. Overall, little has changed in terms of how favorable Americans find China year-on-year–China’s favorability actually saw a slight increase, from 35 percent in 2014 to 38 percent in 2015. Meanwhile, unfavorability declined from 55 percent to 54 percent over the same period. According to Pew’s historical survey data, Americans saw China more unfavorably than favorably for the first time since 2008 in 2013, the first full year Chinese President Xi Jinping led the country.
Read the full story at The Diplomat