Citizens on every continent are increasingly conscious of China’s expanding economic, political, social, and environmental footprints. At a time of increasing global turbulence, public perceptions toward China will continue to intensify and bear on countries’ policy choices, spanning from domestic governance and environmental policy to diplomacy. How do citizens around the world view China? What does this suggest for the unfolding Sino-American geostrategic competition? And how do China’s citizens, elites, and the party-state think about the country’s international image?

To better understand how the world sees China, the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis (CCA) presents the Global Public Opinion on China (GPOC), an interactive website that aggregates more than 2,600 worldwide surveys to track and visualize this emerging factor shaping the global order.

To launch the website, CCA is bringing together a diverse group of experts to discuss how China is viewed by citizens around the world, particularly in the Global South, and the implications for policymakers, including in China. Panelists include Andrew Chubb, CCA Fellow on Foreign Policy and National Security and Project Lead for the GPOC project; Maria Repnikova, Associate Professor of Global Communication at Georgia State University; and Cindy Yu, Assistant Editor of the Spectator and presenter of the Chinese Whispers podcast. The discussion will be moderated by Neil Thomas, CCA Fellow on Chinese Politics.

Speakers

Andrew Chubb is a Fellow on Foreign Policy and National Security at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis where he analyzes global views of China among citizens and foreign policy elites, along with China’s maritime and territorial disputes. Andrew is a senior lecturer in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University. A graduate of the University of Western Australia, his work examines the linkages between Chinese domestic politics and international relations. More broadly, Andrew's interests include maritime and territorial disputes, strategic communication, political propaganda, and Chinese Communist Party history. Recent publications include Chinese Nationalism and the Gray Zone: Case Analyses of Public Opinion and PRC Maritime Policy (Naval War College Press, 2021), PRC Overseas Political Activities: Risk, Reaction and the Case of Australia (Routledge and Royal United Services Institute, 2021), Rights Protection: How the UK Should Respond to the PRC’s Overseas Influence (Lau China Institute, 2022) and Dynamics of Assertiveness in the South China Sea: China, the Philippines and Vietnam, 1970-2015 (National Bureau of Asian Research, 2022).

Maria Repnikova is an Associate Professor in Global Communication at Georgia State University and speaks fluent Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish. Maria is also a 2025 non-resident Wilson China Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. She received her DPhil in Politics at the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. A scholar of China's political communication, her research specializes in media-state relations in China, including political persuasion and critical journalism; Chinese soft power and public diplomacy, especially in the African context; and China-Russia comparisons.

Cindy Yu is an expert on modern China. She is a writer, media commentator and podcast host. Her work focuses on Chinese politics and society, China’s foreign relations and the lives of the Chinese diaspora overseas. Cindy moved to the United Kingdom at the age of ten and went on to study politics, philosophy and economics at the University of Oxford. Fluent in English and Mandarin, she also gained a Master of Science in contemporary Chinese studies. Now assistant editor at the Spectator, she leads the magazine’s China coverage. Her articles examine cross-Strait relations, Chinese Communist Party politics, and China’s foreign policy. Cindy also hosts the magazine’s Chinese Whispers podcast. She has written for Foreign Policy and the Telegraph. Alongside appearances on mainstream news, she was a guest on the popular Conversations with Coleman podcast, and she spoke about the international influence of TikTok for the Institute of Art and Ideas.

Neil Thomas (moderator) is a Fellow on Chinese Politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, where he studies elite politics, political economy, and foreign policy. Previously, he was a senior analyst for China and Northeast Asia at Eurasia Group, the world’s leading political risk advisory and consulting firm, a senior research associate at MacroPolo, the in-house think tank of the Paulson Institute, and a lecturer at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy. He has testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and his writing appears in publications including China Story, ChinaFile, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Review of Books, the Lowy Interpreter, the Washington Post, and the Wire China. He is regularly quoted by major media outlets such as Bloomberg, CNN, Financial Times, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He holds a Master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia, and certificates from Renmin University, Tsinghua University, and Zhejiang University.