China’s seen globally as gaining ground on US

CHINA’S economic might is catching up to the US – or is seen to be catching up.

That’s according to a new report from the Pew Research Center, which released results of a 38-nation survey. While the majority of those polled correctly believe the United States is the world’s biggest economy, 12 nations – including Canada, Russia, and most of western Europe – believe China has the largest economy in the world.

Pew detected a dramatic shift; only six nations said Beijing possessed the world’s strongest economy when the question was asked between 2014 and 2016. Since then, the number of countries that view the US as playing second fiddle to China has doubled. And more striking is the change that’s taken place in just the past year: Canada, the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy all went from seeing America as the biggest player to viewing China as the top dog.

In Asia, where countries are closer to China’s brand of geoeconomic bigfooting, the story is different. A host of US allies, including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and India all see the US as the global economic powerhouse. There’s one notable exception: Australia now believes China is the biggest player.

Pew attributes the rise of China’s standing to the Great Recession. “While the United States and other relatively wealthy Western nations have slowly bounced back from the crisis, economic growth rates have been low compared with those of China, India and other emerging economies,” the report said.

This change in perception makes some sense, given President Donald Trump’s retreat from the global stage. He’s killed the Trans Pacific Partnership, a huge trade deal meant to create an Asian free-trade zone. He’s pulled back on a potential trade deal with Europe. And he’s renegotiating Nafta with Mexico and Canada.

But given China’s deepseated economic woes – rising labour costs; debt; woefully inefficient state firms; pollution; a dearth of arable land; and a shrinking workforce – many experts are a lot more worried about a Chinese slowdown.

The poll, taken among nearly 42,000 respondents, also offers an eloquent view of how the world sees great power leaders. Some 53 percent figure Chinese President Xi Jinping will do the wrong thing in international affairs; Russian president Vladimir Putin sours 59 percent of the population. But fully 74 percent of respondents said they had little or no confidence in Trump. FOREIGN POLICY