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Pew Global Attitudes Project
Publics of Asian Powers Hold Negative Views of One Another
China's Neighbors Worry About its Growing Military Strength
There is a good deal of dislike, if not outright hostility, in how the publics of major Asian countries view their neighbors. The deepest divides exist between traditional rivals - roughly seven-in-ten Japanese express an unfavorable view of China and an equal number of Chinese dislike Japan. Similarly, most Indians have an unfavorable view of Pakistan and most Pakistanis hold negative views about India. But there are other divisions as well. Both the Chinese and Japanese express generally unfavorable views of Pakistan, while the Chinese tend to feel negatively toward India as well.
Anxiety about the growing strength of China's military is nearly universal in Japan. That concern is shared with others among China's neighbors - large majorities in both Russia and India see this as a threatening trend. The Chinese, however, have a very different view: 95% say their rising military might is a good thing.
In China, much of the antipathy toward Japan is rooted in history - overwhelmingly, the Chinese believe Japan has yet to atone for its militaristic past. Eight-in-ten Chinese (81%) believe Japan has not apologized sufficiently for its military actions during the 1930s and 1940s. And departing Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, a controversial Shinto shrine that memorializes Japan's war dead, including Class A World War II war criminals, are viewed very negatively in China.
The latest survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project - conducted in China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, and the United States, from March 31-May 14, 20061 - finds that the Japanese and Chinese tend to associate a number of negative characteristics with one another, and tend not to see certain positive traits in one another. Both publics consider the other competitive, as well as greedy and arrogant; neither sees the other as honest or generous.
Notes
1These six countries are part of a larger 15-country survey conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project. Some data from Indonesia is also included as part of this report. See pewglobal.org for previous reports and other data from this survey.