Around the World, People Are Starting to See China Positively

The West's demonization of China is slowly and steadily losing its power, with yet another survey showing the preference for Chinese global leadership growing steeply, while preference for US dominance falls. 

A multi-country Economist survey asked 32,000 people whether they preferred China or the US as the world’s leading power. 

“The share of respondents favouring China jumped by 11 percentage points to an average of 33%. Meanwhile, support for America slipped below a global majority to 46%”, the Economist reported on November 13. 

The findings echo those of a much larger survey in May this year, in which China was even more strongly preferred by most respondents. The Democracy Perception Index surveyed 120,000 people and showed a more pronounced swing towards China. 

It’s also worth noting that a third, separate survey showed young people in Africa having a strong preference for China (which builds infrastructure and provides jobs) than the West (which is seen as an extractor of wealth). In that 2022 survey, paid for by South Africa’s Ichikowitz Family Foundation, more than 70% of young adults from 15 African countries saw China as the foreign power with the biggest positive impact on their lives. 

This matters. By 2050, 80% of the world’s youth will be from Africa. 

Interestingly, the Economist results were sharply skewed by age. People aged 65 and up, the newspaper-reading generation, still felt very negatively towards China, giving the US a 30-point lead. 

In contrast, young people, who are largely free from the influence of legacy media, feel most positive towards the country. In the eyes of young adults (18 to 24) China gets 39% support, meaning it has almost caught up with US (41%), and will likely soon overtake it. 

“Many youngsters use Chinese products and services, like the video-sharing sensation TikTok, or follow social-media influencers who have visited China”, the Economist said. 

Having seen mainland China, Hong Kong and Xinjiang for themselves through social media on their phones, young people around the world are no longer fooled by US-led hoaxes about China as a nightmare tech dystopia, about the debunked “Uyghur genocide”, about Hong Kong having become “a police state”, and so on. 

The loss of funding for USAID and Radio Free Asia is also having a huge beneficial effect on enabling people to get a clearer, less distorted image of China. 

Two matches yesterday that have an impact on the two teams I support. 

Arsenal trounced Tottenham 4-1 in the Premier League and Aberdeen beat Hearts 1-0 in the Scottish Premiership. This means the gap between the English table toppers and Liverpool has now widened to eleven points. And Hearts are ahead of the Scottish champions by just 4 points although Celtic still have a game in hand.