China seen as ‘confident,’ ‘belligerent’– state media

BEIJING (AFP) — People around the world see China as “confident,” “belligerent” and “arrogant,” state-run media reported yesterday in an unusually direct survey of attitudes toward the country.

Only 13 percent of respondents in the poll by the Global Times newspaper described China as “peaceful,” a sign that Beijing’s territorial disputes with its Asian neighbors have taken a toll on its image.

It also concluded that “the closer you are to China, the more likely you are to have a negative view of it.”

With the exception of rivals such as the US or Japan, state-run media coverage of relations with other countries normally concentrates on the positive, and it is rare for criticism of China to be reported.

But in the survey of 14,400 people in 14 countries, 30.3 percent of respondents called China “confident” in international affairs, with 29.4 percent describing it as “belligerent,” while “complicated” was chosen by 28.1 percent.

“People also describe China with words such as ‘tough,’ ‘arrogant’ and ‘cooperative,’” the paper added, with each of them chosen by about 25 percent of respondents.

China has long been embroiled in disputes with its neighbors, particularly Japan and the Philippines, over islands in the East and South China Seas.

The report cited the limited international influence of Chinese media as one possible reason for negative perceptions of China abroad.

The survey was conducted last month in countries including the United States, Russia, Japan, India, Vietnam, South Korea, South Africa, Britain, the Philippines and Brazil.

The paper did not detail the methodology of the study, carried out by the Global Times, but described it as “the first political survey conducted by a Chinese media agency on a globa l scale as the country g rows increasingly concerned about its soft power.”