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CNN Indonesia
Sunday, 05 May 2024 09:15 IWST
Illustration of the flags of China and the United States. Study reveals anti-China sentiment in the US has risen sharply. (REUTERS/ALY SONG)
Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
A study revealed that anti-China Of United States of America increased sharply in the last five years.
A study revealed by the US think-tank Pew Research Center revealed that four out of five US citizens expressed unfavorable views of China.
Anti-China sentiment has increased to 83 percent from 79 percent over the last five years.
“There was a big spike (in negative sentiment towards China) between 2019 and 2020, coinciding with the Covid-19 pandemic and also an election year,” said one of the Pew Research Center surveyors, Christine Huang, as quoted from SCMPThursday (2/5).
“And the figure remains the same, which is around 80 percent, so it looks like a pattern that will continue to remain negative,” added Huang.
Trade war to the attitude of the US government
Meanwhile, US citizens who have a positive view of China decreased by 21 percent and reached 16 percent this year.
This tendency became increasingly visible when Donald Trump served as President. In fact, there was a company that was taken over and became Chinese property.
Moreover, the trade war initiated by Trump and imposing sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials is claimed to have exacerbated the increasing anti-Chinese sentiment survey.
Todd Belt, a professor of political science at George Washington University, said that this sentiment made it possible to make the anti-China movement an issue that could carry over into the upcoming US election.
He also said that this was a more serious concern and important to pay attention to.
“The China issue is a message that strengthens the commitment of those who are older and consider this to be more important than an issue,” Belt said.
Belt then continued that the younger generation really pays attention to how the government behaves towards a number of countries. For this reason, the issue of Chinese cooperation and its agreements is often in the spotlight of young people.
He continued to assess that the only anti-China action that really had an impact was through the ban on TikTok in the US.
Previously, US President Joe Biden signed a law banning TikTok last month. A number of young people also regretted the government’s actions.
Because, it is not uncommon for young US people to have a steady income from these video-based applications.
This is why, a survey by the Pew Research Center in 2021 showed that around 42 percent of US citizens consider China to be an enemy of the US. Meanwhile, only six percent said Beijing was Washington’s partner.
Huang also continued to reveal that economic relations could be the main measure of US citizens’ sentiment towards China.
“Concerns about economic relations with China are definitely a trend,” Huang said.
So far, China’s relations with the US are still experiencing tension due to a number of conflicts that have occurred. Starting from conflicts in the Middle East to Asia Pacific underlie this tension.
US citizens are also actively monitoring the latest developments in a number of collaborations carried out by Washington in several countries.
(el/bac)
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