According to the Transatlantic Trends survey, there was a more negative than
positive evaluation of China by the European countries under survey, and the
degree of favorability towards China generally declined, and dropped to the lowest
level in 2008. This was relatively evident in some large countries such as France
and Germany. The case was somewhat different in the UK where the positive
evaluation was greater than the negative one, but evaluations constantlyfluctuated
and generally became negative in the period 2003–2013. Southern European
countries, including Italy, Spain and Portugal, were also dominated by unfavorable
feelings towards China, but the situation varied in different years. Attitudes were
diverse in Central and Eastern European countries among which Poland showed a
relatively high degree of unfavorability towards China, while traditionally friendly
countries for China, including Romania, etc., had a relatively high degree of
favorability towards China.
11.2.3 Europeans’Evaluation of China’sInfluence
A survey on China’sinfluence conducted by the BBC and GlobeScan was relatively
similar to the above-cited survey in terms of overall trend, but it was somewhat
different (Table11.4).
Although views about China’sinfluence were different in countries under sur-
vey, on the whole, the evaluation of China’sinfluence was more“negative”than
“positive”. A more“negative”evaluation of China was also found in France,
Germany, Portugal and Italy.
11.2.4 Whether China Is Considered as More of a Partner
or More of an Enemy of Europe
Pew conducted relevant surveys in 2008, 2010 and 2013; results (Table11.5) show
that the proportion of European countries in which China was recognized as more
of a“partner”was extremely low, while the proportion of European countries in
which China was recognized as neither a“partner”nor a“foe”was relatively high,
and the proportion of European countries in which China was recognized as more
of an“enemy”was the lowest; compared with the rest of the world, the degree at
which China was recognized as more of a“partner”was the lowest in the whole of
Europe, while countries where the degree of recognition was relatively high were
mainly concentrated in Africa and Asia (except Japan).^4
(^4) See Pew’s relevant survey, relevant data are no longer provided here due to limitations of space.
11 The Europeans’Perception of China 207