The best sort of rebalancing
Friday, May 14, 2010 at 12:06AM 
Japan Times story (by way of WPR Media Roundup) on recent global polling re: attitudes toward great powers:
Despite widespread talk of a rising China and an America in decline, the latest BBC World Service poll shows not just strong residual American soft power but actually an increase. At the same time, the data depict a China whose influence is viewed as more negative than positive in an increasing number of countries.
Old truth: when your popularity is high, it's got nowhere to go but down, and vice versa.
More tactical reality: every day China gets perceived by more of the world as globalization's great purveyor/integrator/action-force.
And with that burgeoning reputation will come a lot of negative feeling--especially so long as China remains a single-party state. Eventually, the CCP will have to kill the dictatorship to save itself. Why? It'll need the capacity to swap out leadership in response to dramatic failure.
And yeah, those failures will come, as will the global blame.
More polling details:
In 2005, 49 percent of people thought that China's influence was mostly positive, 11 points higher than that of the U.S. However, China's numbers have fallen, reaching 34 percent this year, trailing the U.S. by 6 points.
As China's political, economic and military power have grown, global attention has focused on its influence and activities in Asia.
Public sentiment in the region is shifting dramatically. Japan has for many years had a strained relationship with China. While 59 percent of Japanese had a negative view of China in 2009, this number has now fallen dramatically to 38 percent . . .
But Indians are moving in the other direction. In 2009, Indians leaned toward a positive view of China, 30 percent versus 24 percent, with many declining to state a view. Now, there are more Indians who view China negatively, 38 percent versus 30 percent who have a positive view.
South Koreans are going even further than Indians, with 61 percent viewing China negatively, compared to 50 percent in 2008.
Elsewhere in Asia, Indonesians view China less negatively than before, with 43 percent holding a positive view and 29 percent negative, compared to 37 percent negative previously. And in the Philippines, sentiment has shifted sharply, from 52 percent negative in 2009 to 55 percent positive today.
Why a souring of perceptions in South Korea and India while none in the others? SK and India see themselves as similarly rising powers, something that Indonesia and the Philippines don't yet do and something Japan has passed on.
Reader Comments (1)
I'd submit that South Korea is particularly sensitive to China's propping up of North Korea. (OK, not a particularly great insight...)