Richard Wike, Associate Director of the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, answers questions about public opinion at home and abroad regarding China and the United States.
As President Obama prepares to host Chinese President Hu Jintao next week, Americans increasingly see Asia as the region of the world that is most important to the United States. While Americans see China as a rising global power, relatively few characterize the U.S.-China relationship as adversarial; China is seen primarily as an economic threat, rather than a military one.
Indonesia, where President Barack Obama will visit this month and where he spent part of his childhood, is among those countries of the globe where such restrictions and hostilities are highest.
Publics around the world are showing signs of apprehension about China’s growing economic power, its role in foreign affairs and the safety of the products it exports; but the Chinese people are confident that the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing will change the way their country is viewed.