A recent Pew Research Center survey revealed that more than 40% of Americans now consider China to be an enemy, a significant increase from just a quarter of Americans two years ago. This marks the highest level of animosity towards China in five years, with only 6% of Americans viewing the country as a partner. The Biden administration is currently navigating U.S.-China relations, aiming to avoid miscalculations that could lead to conflicts while addressing various issues such as Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Taiwan, and human rights abuses.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have both recently visited China as part of the administration’s efforts to manage the competition with Beijing. Despite these diplomatic gestures, President Joe Biden has been competing with former President Donald Trump, who is the presumed Republican nominee in the upcoming election, on being tough on China. The Pew report, based on a survey of 3,600 U.S. adults conducted from April 1-7, also found that about half of Americans believe limiting China’s power and influence should be a top foreign policy priority, with only 8% disagreeing.
According to the Pew report, about eight in 10 Americans hold unfavorable views of China for the fifth consecutive year. The negative sentiment extends to Chinese President Xi Jinping, with 81% of U.S. adults viewing the country unfavorably, and a significant portion expressing little to no confidence in Xi’s ability to handle world affairs. The increasingly critical attitudes towards China among Americans have been fueled by factors such as the trade war initiated in 2018, the emergence of COVID-19 from China, human rights violations, closeness to Russia, and controversial policies towards Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The U.S. government’s approach to competing with China on economic and diplomatic fronts has further shaped American perceptions of the country. The survey found that 42% of Americans now view China as an enemy, the highest level since 2021 when the question was first asked by Pew. The sentiment is more prevalent among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, with 59% of them seeing China as an enemy compared to 28% of Democrats. Other factors such as age, political affiliation, and views on the U.S. economy also influence how Americans perceive China.
Overall, Americans tend to view China more negatively when they perceive the country’s influence in the world as increasing or believe that it holds a substantial amount of power over the U.S. economy. Pessimism about the U.S. economy also correlates with negative perceptions of China, with those who view the economic situation unfavorably more likely to consider China an enemy. The survey, conducted with a nationally representative sample of 3,600 respondents, found that the margin of error was plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.
