Beijing’s human rights policies drive unfavourable views of China, Pew survey finds

Negative views of China rise in most of 19 countries surveyed, setting record highs in nations including the US, Canada, Germany and South Korea

A median of 79 per cent of respondents in the 19 nations finds its rights policies a “serious problem”, more than Chinese military power or economic competition

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The Chinese and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region flags. A new global poll finds that Beijing’s handling of human rights issues has helped fuel unfavourable opinions about China. Illustration: Reuters

Published: 1:13am, 30 Jun 2022Updated: 2:13am, 30 Jun 2022

Concerns about China’s human rights record dominated a new global public opinion poll released on Wednesday, dovetailing with increasingly unfavourable views of the country among many nations in North America and Europe.

Conducted by the Pew Research Centre, the survey of around 25,000 adults across 19 countries found that a median of 79 per cent of respondents in those nations considered China’s human rights policies a “serious problem”, outweighing concerns over Chinese military power, economic competition and China’s involvement in their own country.

The findings come as China faces growing scrutiny from large swathes of the international community over its treatment of ethnic minority groups in the country’s far west, as well as its moves to tighten control over Hong Kong.

Leaders at the Group of Seven meetings this week denounced – in unusually forthright language – Beijing’s human rights record and committed to rid their supply chains of goods tainted with alleged forced labour in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The US has already instituted a ban on all goods from Xinjiang, and similar bans are in the works in the European Union and Australia.