Australians back PM’s pushback against China, survey shows

Australians’ trust in China has collapsed, fuelling a grassroots push to reduce its economic reliance on the superpower.

China's President Xi Jinping.

Australians’ trust in China to act responsibly in the world has collapsed, fuelling a grassroots push for the nation to reduce its economic reliance on the superpower.

The annual Lowy Institute Poll suggests strong public endorsement for Scott Morrison’s increasingly hard line approach to dealing with China, with fewer than one in four Australians trusting the country to do the right thing in world affairs, down 29 points in just two years.

Confidence in China’s President Xi Jinping also plunged to 22 per cent, while 94 per cent of respondents said Australia should “reduce our economic dependence on China”, the most emphatic consensus on an issue in the survey’s 16-year history.

The poll found eight in 10 Australians would approve of travel and financial sanctions on Chinese officials associated with human rights abuses.

The federal government is pushing back forcefully at Chinese “disinformation”, and warns of a “malicious” campaign of state-sponsored hacking directed towards Australia which many ­attribute to China.

The poll predates recent trade sanctions by Beijing towards Australia, and its warnings to students and tourists — rejected as “rubbish” by the Prime Minister — of a spike in racist attacks against Chinese students.

Nearly four in five respondents said the nation’s alliance with the United States was important to Australia’s security, up six points since last year’s poll.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison meets with President Xi Jinping during the G20 in Osaka, Japan on June 28, 2019. Picture: Adam Taylor/PMO

But only a bare majority of 51 per cent said they trusted the US to act responsibly in the world, while just 30 per cent had confidence in President Donald Trump doing the right thing.

The poll of 2448 adult Australians, taken between March 16 and 29 while the nation was in lockdown, found only 50 per cent of respondents felt safe.

The record low perception of security came as 76 per cent of respondents identified COVID-19, and 77 per cent named drought and water shortages, as “critical threats to Australia’s vital interests in the next 10 years”.

A severe downturn in global economic activity was also identified as a critical threat by seven in 10 respondents, a 20 point increase from 2019.

Lowy Institute executive director Michael Fullilove said the poll recorded “unprecedented shifts in public opinion” as the impact of the coronavirus was felt around the world. “Our concern about a global economic downturn has skyrocketed. Optimism about our economic prospects has sunk to an historic low,” he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with US President Donald Trump at the G20 Summit in 2019 in Osaka, Japan.