China’s growing military power is worrying Asian nations, nearly all of which have a negative view of Beijing, according to a new poll.
Chin's Long March-4B carrier rocket blasts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province on Sept. 19.
AP Photo/Xinhua, Wang Yongji
The recent survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project was carried out in China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Russia and the United States from March 31-May 14, 2006.
The survey revealed that “there is a good deal of dislike, if not outright hostility, in how the publics of major Asian countries view their neighbors,” the Pew project said. “The deepest divides exist between traditional rivals — roughly seven-in-ten Japanese express an unfavorable view of China and an equal number of Chinese dislike Japan.”
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In Japan, worries about China’s growing military power are “nearly universal,” the report said. “That concern is shared with others among China's neighbors — large majorities in both Russia and India see this as a threatening trend.”
A total of 95 percent of China’s public, however, say their rising military might is a good thing.
Few respondents said they believe China will replace the United States as a superpower and relatively few think such a shift will happen in the next 10 years.
However, over the next 20 to 50 years, many see China becoming a superpower. Some 43 percent of Americans and 37 percent of Chinese, along with 65 percent of Indians say China will replace the U.S. as the world's dominant power either in the next 10, 20 or 50 years. A majority of Japan’s public (59 percent) believe China will never supplant the U.S.
