As per reports, China will soon overtake US as world’s biggest superpower, but people around the world are not happy about the prospect. They are not ready to accept China as the major power. The survey which was conducted by the Pew Research Center took 39 countries into account and showed the results. With the shifting of power, mutual strains are on the rise. Votes by Americans in favor of China have declined from the last two years. It was at 51 percent and now it has gone down to 37 percent. Similar changes have been found among the Chinese as well for the United States of America. It has dropped from 58 percent to 40 percent.
The economic power of China is on the rise while that of the United States is on the decline. Many countries are still considering USA as the major power, but it is a certain eventuality when China will emerge as the ruling country. Even though the scenario is changing, yet USA still enjoys a better position than China among various countries. When they were questioned on which country they would like to partner with, most of them mentioned US instead of China.
However, there were many countries where positive sentiments reflected for the Asian country. Latin America and Africa were among them which praised the technological and scientific advancement of this Asian region. The Chinese investment in these areas is a result of this positive feedback. But still the culture and ideas are not so much favored.
The opposite reaction is seen among neighbors of China. Countries like South Korea, Philippines and Japan give more importance to US and want this country as their partner rather than their neighbor. This can be seen as a result of the aggressive territorial clashes that they are involved in with China. Similar reaction came from people of Israel, Italy, Germany and Japan. The maximum resentment came from the Japanese. Only 5 percent had a positive view whereas 93 percent provided a negative view about entering into a partnership with China.
According to the survey, both Chinese and US military potential were a major area of concern for other countries. The drone program of USA was the most unpopular one. Out of 39 countries surveyed, 31 countries condemned the airstrikes on extremists. Only three countries namely Kenya, Unites States itself and Israel were in favor of the attacks.
In terms of human rights and personal freedoms, US were way ahead of China. However, the survey showed that the United States was the only country where positive feedback had decreased in terms of personal freedom. The survey showed that even if China becomes the leading superpower, it will take some time to change the attitudes of other countries towards it.
