Americans Getting Colder On China. NewsWire

NewsWire: 3/25/21

• Fully 89% of Americans now consider China a competitor or an enemy rather than a partner. The negative sentiment is higher among Republicans than Democrats, but negative perceptions have risen equally among groups since 2018. (Pew Research Center)
• NH: Since 2013, we have often written on the growing bipartisan support for tougher policies on China. (See "America Looks East--with Apprehension," "Americans Go Negative on China--And Now Hong Kong Lights a Spark," and "America Threatens a Trade War with China.")
• According to Pew's new report, these perceptions have deepened over the past three years.
• In 2018, only 46% of Americans felt “cold” towards China. As of 2021, that share has jumped to 67%. Almost half (48%) believe “limiting China’s power and influence” should be a top US priority. And nine out of ten (89%) say they think of China as either a "competitor" or an "enemy" of the US.   
• The shift is bipartisan. A majority of both Republicans (79%) and Democrats (61%) have “cold” feelings towards China. Since 2018, this share has increased 22 percentage points among Republicans and 23 percentage points among Democrats. 

• What worries Americans most about China? When asked to choose from a list of issues which are "a very serious problem for the US," here are the top four responses: cyberattacks (65%), loss of US jobs (55%), growing military power (52%), and human rights (50%). Interestingly, tensions between China and Hong (31%) or between China and Taiwan (28%) are at the bottom of Americans' concerns.

• While Republicans are more worried than Democrats on every issue, the partisan gap is larger for some issues than for others. The gap is widest on worries about China’s economic, technological, and military advances. It is smallest on worries about human rights, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. When asked if “the US should promote human rights in China, even if it harms economic relations,” 69% of Democrats and 72% of Republicans agreed.

• Over the last couple of years, Joe Biden has been trying to channel this growing anti-China sentiment. During the 2020 campaign, he attacked former President Donald Trump's China policy for being all talk and no action. He specifically criticized Trump for papering over human rights issues and trying to help President Xi, whom Biden refers to as a "thug."
• Since taking office, Biden has brought many of these issues to the forefront of his agenda. Look no further than the recent spat at the summit in Anchorage. Secretary of State Antony Blinken set the tone of the meeting by blasting China on Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the plight of the Uyghurs.
• Last week, the White House imposed sanctions on Chinese officials involved in the internment of Uyghurs and the erosion of democratic guarantees in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Biden is orchestrating plans to pivot global US military forces more toward Asia. The US Navy has already increased the frequency with which its warships navigate through the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. 
• As Biden tries to rally a coalition of allies to confront China, he may be helped by a similar attitude shift in the rest of the world. A Pew poll from last October shows that views of China among most major high-income countries turned sharply more negative over the past few years. In all 14 nations polled, most respondents now have a negative view of China; and in most of these nations, at least three-quarters now have a negative view.

• Last week when Biden imposed sanctions over the treatment of Uyghurs, Canada, the UK, and the EU jointly targeted the same officials.
• As popular "feeling thermometers" turn colder toward China around the the world, tragically, so too do popular passions acted out by the lawless and the deranged. As most Americans were reminded by the murders in Atlanta last week, hate crimes against Asians in major US cities has been rising rapidly over the last two years--and especially since the pandemic. In fact, according to the NGO Human Rights Watch, such hate crimes are rising around the world.
• The growing tension between western governments and Xi's CCP regime at the official level may in time have serious geopolitical consequences. (See “Europe Welcomes Biden—But Has Growing Doubts About America’s Future.”) It will certainly have negative repercussions on the tone of everyday life.

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