AGI – China mishandled the pandemic Covid-19: this is what is revealed in the Pew Research Center survey released today, which involved 14 countries among the major advanced economies. Overall 61% of respondents expressed a negative opinion on the response of the People’s Republic of China to the spread of the coronavirus, which spread from Wuhan to the province of Hubei.
Italy is an exception, the only one among the 14 countries in which the negative opinion is maintained, albeit a little under half of the interviewees, at 49%, making positive opinions prevail with 51%. The most severe of all are the Asian countries, Japan and South Korea, which reject China with 79%, followed by Australian (73%) and Danish (72%) respondents; the ranking of negative assessments therefore sees Sweden at 65% and the US at 64%, Canada at 61% and the United Kingdom at 60%.
According to the research, the negative opinion towards China rose to an all-time high among the 14 countries of the major advanced economies. The survey finds that China’s worst reputation is manifested in Japan, where it meets the disadvantage of 86% of the interviewees; followed by Sweden (85%) and Australia (81%). The most benevolent judgment is instead expressed in Italy where “only” 62% have a bad opinion of China.
On the overall average, the negative evaluation results in 73% of the interviewees. The change in opinion caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is significant, especially in some countries: it has made the share of Australians hostile to China jump by 24%, while in the United Kingdom the growth was 19 points up to 74 % and in the United States by 13 points, touching the current 73% unfavorable (like Holland). But returning to Italy, the share of negative opinions rose by just 5%.
The Covid-19 pandemic has also sank to historic lows the level of public confidence in the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. On the overall average, 78% of the more than 14,000 people interviewed said they did not trust Xi Jinping, with a notable leap in negative opinions between 2019 and 2020.
Even in Italy, more benevolent in its opinion of China than other countries, the level of distrust of the Chinese president has jumped to 75% from 54% a year earlier.
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