Interactive Website Launch | Global Public Opinion on China

Monday, December 2 — The Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis has launched the Global Public Opinion on China (GPOC) interactive website, a one-of-a-kind resource that consolidates nearly 2,500 survey results from over 160 countries across six continents — the largest database of its kind. This comprehensive and user-friendly platform visualizes international views of China as its economic, political, social, and environmental influence continues to grow worldwide. By offering comprehensive insights into these public perceptions, which increasingly inform key policy decisions, the GPOC project aims to sharpen debates and guide informed decision-making on China-related issues.

“Public opinion on China has already appeared as a factor in national-level policymaking in many countries,” writes Andrew Chubb, Fellow on Foreign Policy and National Security and project lead of GPOC. “From Kenyan election debates focusing on Chinese infrastructure and labor practices to local uprisings against the Solomon Islands’ switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing to anti-Chinese protests by supporters of Myanmar’s junta, public views are shaping policymakers’ choices about their engagement with China.”

The website features analytical articles that unpack the GPOC project’s data. In “COVID’s Impact on China’s Global Image,” Chubb concludes that polls suggest international views of China darkened significantly as a result of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this is not true across the board. “In Southeast Asia, contrary to some findings, there are signs the pandemic may have ultimately helped China’s image. Overall, 2020–21 coincided with a temporary increase in favorability, perhaps due to China’s successful control measures, mask diplomacy, and distribution of vaccines,” he writes.

While the GPOC project confirms that, in aggregate, citizens across the Global South have a more positive view of China, the data indicates that there are exceptions to this that are “anything but trivial.”

“Across the Middle East and North Africa, positive and negative views of China were roughly balanced through most of the 2010s, but China’s image improved from 2018 onward. This suggests the positions taken by most of the region’s governments, applauding the mass internment and re-education of Uyghurs and other Muslim minority populations as counter-terrorism achievements, have neutralized the effects of Western media reporting on the issue,” Chubb argues in “Public Opinion on China in the Global South.”

Explore GPOC and read the accompanying articles here. Members of the media interested in interviewing Andrew Chubb should contact [email protected].