Americans say China’s relationship with Russia is serious concern, survey finds
- More than 90 per cent of respondents tell the Pew Research Centre that Beijing’s ‘no-limits’ partnership with Moscow is a threat to the US
- The survey sees a continuing slide in American favourable opinions about China, reaching the lowest point since Pew began polling the issue in 2005
Beijing’s relationship with Moscow has emerged as the dominant concern for Americans in their views of China, outweighing other worries around human rights, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and US-China economic competition, the latest Pew Research Centre survey has found.
The new concern about Beijing’s relationship with Moscow came as the survey, published on Thursday, found that Americans’ favourable views of China had slid to their lowest point since Pew began polling the issue in 2005.
More than nine of 10 respondents surveyed in the US viewed the China-Russian partnership as a serious problem for the US, according to the poll of more than 3,500 adults, which was conducted around one month into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
China has refused to condemn Russia’s attack, and has abstained from or voted with Russia in United Nations motions regarding the war. That position has intensified scrutiny by the US and its allies of what Beijing and Moscow described in February as their “no-limits” partnership.
The survey found that the relationship was a “very” serious problem to around 62 per cent of people, significantly higher than concerns around China’s military power (43 per cent), human rights issues (42 per cent) and tensions between China and Taiwan (35 per cent).
Just 26 per cent of respondents regarded Beijing’s handling of Hong Kong – a focus of numerous policy moves by Washington in recent years – as a very serious problem for the US.
