According to a new survey, a large majority of Americans blame China for the worldwide spread of the coronavirus as animosity toward the country increases.
According to the study released Thursday by the Pew Research Center, more than three-quarters of Americans, 78 percent, attribute “a large part or a good part of the blame” to China for the spread of the virus throughout the world. world.
Another 73 percent of respondents said they had “unfavorable” views of the country, a figure that increased 26 percentage points since 2018, the pollsters found.
The survey surveyed 1,003 voting-age adults by phone, with a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points, according to Pew.
Americans have equally cold views on Chinese President Xi Jinping, with 77 percent responding that they are “not overly confident” or “not at all confident” that they would do “the right thing” regarding world affairs .
Pollsters found that Americans also appear prepared to support firm action against China in response to the country’s treatment of Uighur Muslims. It is estimated that more than 1 million members of the minority ethnic group in the country are forcibly detained in Chinese concentration camps.
Nearly three-quarters of residents, 73 percent, responded that “the United States should try to promote human rights in China, even if it hurts economic relations,” according to the survey. Although the survey question did not make specific reference to the Uighurs.
Americans’ views of China’s position on the world, as well as ties between the two countries, were less clear.
About 57 percent of respondents said they saw China as a “competitor”, compared to 66 percent of those who answered when the question was asked in 2012. 26 percent of respondents said they saw China as a “enemy” and another 15 percent considered the country to be a “partner”
And 51 percent of Americans surveyed believed that the United States should build a stronger relationship with China, while 46 percent said the United States should “toughen up.”
But more and more Americans support a more adversarial stance, with the number of respondents who opted for difficult growth of 11 percentage points from last year.
And about half of Americans think the United States should hold China accountable for the role it played in the coronavirus outbreak, even if it means damaging economic and trade relations.
The poll comes as the Trump administration continues to push back and forth with China. The Justice Department accused Chinese consulates in more than two dozen American cities of assisting undercover Communist Party soldiers posing as students as part of the espionage operations.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week delivered a scathing speech against China’s “totalitarian” regime, criticizing the Communist Party for oppressing residents, hiding knowledge about the origins of the coronavirus and for the arrest of Uighurs.
“For too many decades, our leaders have ignored or downplayed the words of brave Chinese dissidents who have warned us about the nature of the regime we are facing,” Pompeo said last Thursday. “We cannot ignore it any longer.”
.
