The poll respondents were asked to identify China as either an "ally" or an "adversary” and 56 percent characterized Beijing as a foe, while only 33 put the country in the ally column, according to Ipsos Public Affairs, which conducted the poll for Thomson Reuters.
When asked to choose from a list of nations that are “the most important” bilateral relationship, 34 percent chose China, 23 percent picked Britain, and 18 percent chose Canada.
Relations with China have been difficult since formal diplomatic ties were established in 1979 under an ambiguous series of communiques that left unanswered U.S. support for and informal relations with Taiwan.
China has vowed to use force to reunite Taiwan with the mainland, viewing the island as a breakaway province. The United States has vowed to provide Taiwan with defense weapons to prevent the use of force and for some U.S. administrations have received greater or lesser support.
China’s bloody crackdown on unarmed protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square also soured ties, with the U.S. Congress imposing sanctions on China that remain in place.
In 1996, the Pentagon dispatched two U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups to waters near Taiwan in response to China’s conducting of missile flight tests bracketing the island. The carrier deployments were viewed by China as a step toward war over Taiwan.
The U.S. military mistakenly bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999 during military operations against Serbian forces. Beijing accused the United States of deliberately bombing the embassy.
Then in 2001, a Chinese jet crashed into a U.S. EP-3 surveillance plane off China’s coast, triggering a new crisis. The EP-3 crew made an emergency landing on Hainan island and was imprisoned by the Chinese military for nearly a month.
