Beijing on the nose with neighbours

Xi Jinping’s propaganda machine will have to fend off a jarringly timed new survey of 17 advanced economies.

Police stand guard on Wednesday in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, where Xi Jinping will oversee a red centenary parade on Thursday. Picture: AFP

President Xi Jinping will celebrate the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary with negative sentiment about China at record levels in its most powerful rival, the US, its most important European partner, Germany, and in its own neighbourhood.

As Mr Xi — who is also the party’s General Secretary — oversees a red centenary parade on Thursday in Beijing, his propaganda machine will have to fend off a jarringly timed new survey of 17 advanced economies by the Washington-based Pew ­Research Centre.

The reviews of China’s strong man leader were even worse than those of the country, with majorities in all but one of the 17 surveyed having little or no confidence in Mr Xi’s handling of world affairs.

The only outlier was Singapore, but even a majority of Singaporese said Mr Xi’s government does not respect the personal freedoms of the Chinese people.

So did thumping majorities in all the populations surveyed.

“In Sweden, South Korea, Australia, The Netherlands, the US and Japan, at least nine in 10 or more hold this opinion,” said Laura Silver, Pew’s senior researcher.

The new research — the most authoritative annual survey on how China is viewed in the rich world — confirms the entrenched gulf between the views of much of the world and how the rising power sees itself in the Xi era.

It comes after The Wall Street Journal reported China’s Foreign Ministry was considering measures to rein in its aggressive wolf warrior diplomats, including issuing guidelines for their behaviour on Twitter.

Mr Xi will on Thursday give a speech praising the achievements of the party’s “people-centred” development approach, which has made the country the second-biggest economy in the world.

Beijing’s New China Research — a think tank linked to China’s propaganda department — this week released a report on the successes of the party’s first 100 years.

Revealing frustration with international criticism, the report argued that “Western academic theories” were unable to explain the success of the Chinese Communist Party, which required “new research paradigms”.

Those surveyed by Pew — more than 18,000 people in Europe, North America and Asia — were overwhelmingly distrustful of Mr Xi, negative about China and keen to extend privilege economic relations with the US.

New Zealanders were the most supportive of promoting human rights in China, even if it harms economic relations with their biggest trading partner. Australia was the second-most supportive with 78 per cent support, behind the Kiwis on 80 per cent.

Japanese had the most negative views when asked if they had confidence in Mr Xi doing the right thing for the world; 86 per cent answering no. South Koreans were almost as negative with 84 per cent having no confidence, just ahead of Australia on 82 per cent.

Singapore — whose Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, recently advised the Australia to “work with” China — was the only country with a majority that had confidence in Mr Xi, with 70 per cent answering yes.

Chong Ja Ian, an expert on Chinese foreign relations at the National University of Singapore, said the result was in part a legacy of respect for the city-state’s founder, Lee Kuan Yew. “Singapore is a place where people tend to be conditioned to ‘Great Man’ leaders,” Dr Chong told The Australian.

Singapore was also the only country that picked China when asked whether it was more important to have strong economic ties with the US or China, while 81 per cent of Japanese and 75 per cent of South Koreans picked America.

New Zealanders were almost evenly split, while 59 per cent of Australians — battered by the Xi administration’s ongoing trade attacks — picked the US over its biggest export market.

The survey was taken between February and May, and found unfavourable views towards China in America rose this year by 3 per cent to a record 76 per cent.

Unfavourable views about China were also at record levels in Germany, Canada and South Korea.

Australia’s negative views fell 3 per cent to 78 per cent on last year, although only Japan and Sweden were more sour about China.

The United Kingdom had the biggest bounce for China, as unfavourable views fell by 11 per cent to 63 per cent.