Donald Trump: US influence in Asia diminishes, survey finds
DONALD Trump’s only been in the job for six months, but he’s already skewed Australian views and helped shift the balance of power towards China.
DONALD Trump has been in office for just six months, but new research shows he’s already influenced Australia’s perceptions of the US.
A new survey of 4703 people across six countries by the Asian Research Network looked at the role of the US in the region and found overall perceptions of the country declined compared to the year before.
It found the United States’ perceived influence has taken a huge dive among her allies including Australia, Japan and Korea.
Commissioned by the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, researchers quizzed six Asian-Pacific nations one month after the election of Donald Trump to see how much influence they believe the US has across the region.
It also wanted to see if the US President’s America First policy had harmed his country’s image.
The survey was held simultaneously in Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Korea and the results were compared with exactly the same questions asked the previous year under the Obama administration.
The number of Australians who viewed the US as the most influential player dropped from 22 per cent to just 11 per cent, compared to the year before.
Australians were also the most likely to nominate China as the most influential country in Asia today, at 72 per cent.
And more than half of us (62 per cent) think that US influence over the next five years will be more negative under a Trump administration.
Despite this, 71 per cent still regard the US as the global ‘rule setter’ and almost all (93 per cent) reckon the US would help in the event of an attack.
Australians were also asked their view on the US with Donald Trump as President, with 61 per cent recording a negative response, 16 per cent positive and 24 per cent undecided.
The US perceived influence wasn’t as great with other allies either.
The number of Japanese who viewed the US as the most influential player in Asia dropped from 48 per cent to 14 per cent.
And major ally Korea almost halved with 31 per cent compared to 60 per cent the previous year.
EQUAL ALLIES
US Studies Centre CEO and report author Professor Simon Jackman said while there had been a decline in assessments of US influence overall, Australians are still more comfortable being on the side of Washington when it came to certain areas.
Prof Jackman said Australia, more than any other country, had taken an incredible even handedness and middle ground when it came to both the US and China.
“For one respondent praising China over the US, there was one praising the US over China,” he said.
“Japan and Korea tend to be more bullish when it comes to the US and China.”
Prof Jackman said most Australians didn’t see China as big a security threat as other allies did and that most Australians appeared to be embracing the rise of China.
“China is our largest trading partner and its economic growth has been and will be valuable for Australia,” he said.
“Our alliance with the United States is the bedrock of our national security.
“Both countries are vital to Australia, a view repeatedly expressed by Australians throughout our survey, irrespective of who occupies the Oval Office.”
TRUMP VS OBAMA
To determine the difference in how much the perception of the US had changed compared to Mr Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, researchers deliberately referred to the current President by name only half the time.
He said participants generally responded more negatively to Mr Trump’s name.
“There’s no sugar-coating that perceptions of American influence have diminished in the wake of Trump’s election,” Prof Jackman said.
“But our data also indicates that is largely a reaction to Trump per sé rather than a wholesale revision of Australian beliefs about its relationship with the United States.”
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