Americans split over whether Joe Biden can match Xi Jinping

The most authoritative annual poll of US views on China finds a nation increasingly troubled by Xi Jinping’s rising power.

Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. Picture: AFP

Americans have less faith in President Joe Biden’s ability to deal with China than any other major foreign policy issue, according to the most authoritative annual poll of US views towards the rising power.

The Pew Research Centre’s 2021 survey of US views on China presents a nation increasingly troubled by President Xi Jinping’s rising power, which nine in 10 Americans now consider a competitor or enemy.

But it finds Americans ambivalent about their new President’s ability to deal effectively with Mr Xi’s more assertive China.

“While 60 per cent of Americans have confidence in Biden to do the right thing regarding world affairs in general, when it comes to dealing effectively with China, only 53 per cent say they have confidence in him,” said Pew’s senior researcher Laura Silver.

“This is fewer than say they have confidence in him to handle any of the other foreign policy ­issues asked about on the survey.”

The Pew findings were released the day after Mr Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said in a keynote foreign policy address that China was the biggest geopolitical challenge to the US in the 21st century.

And it comes as Mr Xi and 5000-odd members of China’s political elite gather in Beijing for the country’s biggest annual political event — the week-long “Two Sessions” — where they will plot their path to overtaking the US as the world’s dominant economy by 2035.

Mr Xi, who is also the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, has warned about the challenge posed by America ahead of the important political gathering. “The US is the biggest threat to our country’s development and security,” he recently told Chinese officials.

The new Pew research — based on a survey of 2596 Americans in early February — found concerns about cyber-attacks, job losses to China and China’s growing technological power all increased over the past year.

Half of Americans said China’s policy on human rights was a “very serious problem” for the US — up 7 per cent over the past year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping stands on a military jeep as he inspects troops of the People's Liberation Army during a military parade. Picture: AP

Seven in 10 Americans said they wanted the Biden administration to promote human rights in China, even if it harmed economic relations.

Human rights were also brought up by a fifth of those asked to write the first thing that came to mind when they thought about China.

“The Chinese people as individuals are no different than other people, but their government is a totalitarian communist regime bent on conquering its neighbours and land-grabbing, as shown by their takeover of Hong Kong,” wrote a 52-year-old man.

One of the key points of agreement among Americans — whether male, female, old, young, Republican or Democrat — was their assessment of Mr Xi. Eighty-two per cent of Americans said they had little to no confidence in China’s leader. The share who said they had no confidence at all in Mr Xi increased by 5 per cent to 43 per cent since last year’s survey.

Almost half of respondents — 48 per cent — said limiting China’s power and influence should be a top foreign policy priority for the US, up from 32 per cent in 2018. Those concerns were even higher among older, less educated, ­Republican-voting Americans.

Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning takes part in a military drill in the western Pacific Ocean. Picture: Supplied

Only a third of Americans said US-China economic relations were positive.

Respondents were almost evenly split on whether to get tougher with China on trade or build a stronger partnership.

Less than a third said the Trump administration’s tariffs on China had been good for America, while almost half — 44 per cent — said they had been bad.

“I work in tech and my company does a lot of business in China. The trade war and bans on sales to certain companies have hurt our business and seem arbitrary. I have been to China many times. I don’t agree with all of China’s policies but I also don’t agree with how the US government has managed its relationship under Trump,” answered a 49-year-old woman.

Only 4 per cent of respondents used positive adjectives when asked to write the first thing that came to mind when they thought about China.

“The category of positive descriptions encompassed all mentions of the Great Wall, Chinese food and pandas — all of which were mentioned, albeit infrequently,” wrote Ms Silver and her Pew research associate Shannon Schumacher.