Guess What? The U.S. and China Don’t Trust Each Other Much

Working with the Pew Research Center and the Research Center for Contemporary China at Peking University, as well as the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Carnegie-CSCPA survey canvassed the general public and elites from government, business, academia, the military, and the media last year. In the U.S., it surveyed 1,004 adults from the general public, and 305 elites. In China, it canvassed 2,597 adults in urban areas and 358 elites.

The tendency to label the other country an outright enemy was encouragingly low, when it came to the general public; only 15 percent of Americans and 12 percent of Chinese believe that. Notable however was the comparative lack of trust shown by Chinese elites, with 27 percent viewing the U.S. as a foe, compared to just 2 percent of American elites saying that about China.

In viewing the other country as a major threat, there was a split, with Chinese markedly more suspicious. 63 percent of the Chinese public see the U.S. as the biggest threat to their country, with 81 percent of business elites saying that. Coming in a distant second as a threat was Japan (Given that the survey happened before the recent tensions surrounding the Diaoyu Islands (or as the Japanese call them Senkaku), that perception may have shifted, the survey notes.)

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