The above relevant surveys arrive at this conclusion: most of the Europeans
involved in the survey believed that China’s growing military and economic power
posed more of a threat or increasing threats.
11.2.12 Trends in China’s Future Development
Views about the prospects for China’s future development constitute an important
part of common Westerners’perceptions of China. This survey mainly covered the
following issues: whether China might replace the USA as a leading superpower,
which country among the USA, the EU, Japan and China, will become the leading
economic giant in the future, the prospects for China-EU cooperation, etc.
11.2.12.1 Will China Replace the USA as a Leading Superpower
in the World?
On this issue, all of the European countries involved in the survey“were optimistic
about”China and believed that China would replace the USA as a leading super-
power in the world, and more and more European countries held such a view
(Table11.13).
11.2.12.2 Which Country Will Become the Leading Economic Giant
in the Future?
On this issue, all of the European countries involved in the survey also“were
optimistic about”China, and with the changing situation, more and more common
people“were optimistic”and they were more numerous than those who were
optimistic about the USA in the years 2008–2013. Accordingly, the case where
common people “were pessimistic about”the EU was relatively obvious, the
common people even believed that the EU was more hopeless than Japan at
becoming the leading economic giant (Table11.14).
11.2.12.3 The Prospects for China-EU Cooperation
Western public opinion survey agencies examined the prospects for China-EU
cooperation from the perspective of whether China and the EU had shared values
and interests and thus could engage in cooperation (see Tables11.15and11.16).
Common people in most of the European countries involved in the survey
believed that China and the EU had no shared values and interests so that the two
sides would not be able to cooperate on international issues. In contrast, more
people believed that the differences in values resulted from a failure to cooperate.
11 The Europeans’Perception of China 219