opinion poll
China’s reputation under Xi Jinping ‘has become steeply negative’
Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan. photo
© Sergei Bobylev/Pool Sputnik Kremlin/AP/dpa
According to a new survey, western countries’ image of China has changed radically. Reasons are the human rights policy of the state, but also its status as a military and economic power.
China’s reputation in Germany, the United States and other developed countries has drastically deteriorated under China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping. According to surveys and data analyzes published by the Pew polling institute on Thursday, public opinion of China in the industrialized countries has “become steeply more negative” during Xi Jinping’s ten-year tenure. Above all, there are concerns about China’s human rights policy, military power and economy.
At the congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which takes place every five years and begins on October 16 in Beijing, Xi Jinping wants to be confirmed as party leader for an unprecedented third term. In November, the Central Committee practically gave the 69-year-old a mandate for a permanent, possibly lifelong leadership role – as the first party leader since the revolutionary and state founder Mao Tsetung.
The number of Germans surveyed who have “no trust” in Xi Jinping has risen from 62 percent eight years ago to 79 percent. Above all, however, the image of China in Germany has changed radically: while in 2005 only 37 percent of Germans had a negative opinion of China, the number has since doubled to 74 percent, as the Pew researchers reported.