{"id":25327,"date":"2011-01-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-13T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2011\/01\/13\/friend-or-foe-how-americans-see-china\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:52:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:52:02","slug":"friend-or-foe-how-americans-see-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2011\/01\/13\/friend-or-foe-how-americans-see-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Friend or Foe? How Americans See China"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">by Andrew Kohut, President, Pew Research Center <br> Special to <i>The Wall Street Journal<\/i><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington next week, he will be greeted by an American public that looks to Asia- &#8212; rather than to Europe &#8212; as the region of the world most important to U.S. interests. This marks a major change from the 1990s, when Americans still considered Europe more important than Asia, even despite concern about Japan&#8217;s supposed ascendance. Today, Europe has taken a back seat.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <a href=\"..\/..\/pubs\/1855\/china-poll-americans-want-closer-ties-but-tougher-trade-policy\">new nationwide poll<\/a> by the Pew Research Center finds Americans considering Asia more important by a 47%-to-37% margin. In 1993, the balance of public opinion was the opposite: 50% considered Europe most important, 31% Asia. Questioned today about their interest in news from various countries, 34% of Americans say they are very interested in news from China, while far fewer say the same about France (6%), Germany (11%), Italy (11%) and even Great Britain (17%).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Public interest in China is not just academic. A large majority <a href=\"..\/..\/pubs\/1478\/political-iq-quiz-knowledge-filibuster-debt-colbert-steele\">correctly identifies China<\/a> as the country that holds the most American debt. Growing numbers of Americans also see China &#8212; incorrectly &#8212; as the world&#8217;s leading economic power. Pew Research&#8217;s latest survey finds 47% of respondents <a href=\"..\/..\/pubs\/1855\/china-poll-americans-want-closer-ties-but-tougher-trade-policy\">citing China as the world&#8217;s top economic power<\/a>, and only 31% correctly citing the U.S. In early 2008, the balance of opinion was the opposite: 41% named the U.S., while 30% named China.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052748703791904576076271559977248.html\">Read the full commentary at wsj.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington next week, he will be greeted by an American public that looks to Asia- &#8212; rather than to Europe &#8212; as the region of the world most important to U.S. interests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[122,117,26],"tags":[],"bylines":[2134],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[507,506,514],"research-teams":[520],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-25327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bilateral-relations","category-global-image-of-countries","category-international-affairs","bylines-tom-rosentiel","formats-report","regions-countries-asia-pacific","regions-countries-china","regions-countries-international","research-teams-politics"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":235,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2011\/01\/13\/friend-or-foe-how-americans-see-china\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Friend or Foe? 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