Wary of India's growth, only 23% of Chinese like India: Survey

Washington: Wary of India’s economic growth, an overwhelming majority of Chinese have a negative opinion about India, a recent survey has found. “Roughly a quarter (23 percent) have a favourable opinion of India, while 62 percent offer a negative opinion,” a survey done by the Washington-based Pew Research Center showed. “Currently, only 44 percent of Chinese say their southern neighbour’s expanding economy is positive for China, down from six-in-ten in 2010,” the centre said. [caption id=“attachment_495986” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption] Meanwhile, those saying India’s growing economy is a bad thing has almost doubled over the same period. Indian views are also very similar towards China and are even more negative. “Only 23 percent of Indians describe their country’s relationship with China as one of cooperation and only 24 percent think China’s growing economy is a good thing for India,” it said. However, the survey showed better attitude of the Chinese towards Pakistan as compared to India. China’s relationship with Pakistan is much brighter, with nearly half of Chinese (49 percent) seeing the relationship as one of cooperation and only 10 percent describing it as one of hostility," Pew said. Chinese attitude towards Russia is favourably balanced, with 48 percent expressing a positive and 38 percent a negative view. In contrast, perceptions of the US and the United Nations are roughly divided, with 43 percent holding a favourable opinion of each. Also, only about a third see the European Union (33 percent) and Pakistan (31 percent) positively. Chinese perceptions of these foreign nations and institutions have mostly held steady since last year, the report said. Similarly, Iran receives largely negative ratings, with only 21 percent expressing a favourable view of the Islamic Republic, a decline of eight percentage points since 2011. According to Pew, while a 39 percent-plurality of Chinese see their country’s relationship with the US as one of cooperation, this is down sharply from 2010, when 68 percent held this view. Meanwhile, over a quarter (26 percent) say the relationship with the US is one of hostility, up from eight percent two years ago. Similarly, 39 percent in China view their relationship with India as one of cooperation, down significantly since 2010, when 53 percent saw the relationship positively. “Views toward China’s longtime regional rival, Japan, are even dimmer, with a 41 percent-plurality saying that relations between China and Japan are hostile, and only three-in-ten describing them as cooperative. PTI