between China and the EU, accounting for only 1.7 %. Respondents who consid-
ered the EU as a“friend”or a“partner”significantly decreased by about half (from
57.4 to 28.9 %) compared with the 2007 survey, while those who considered the
EU as a“stakeholder”significantly increased (from 36.8 to 63.8 %) and the ten-
dency forélites to describe China-EU relations as neutral became evident; in
addition,élites who considered China and the EU as“competitors”also increased
somewhat (from 0.5 % to 3.8 %). The above survey indicates thatélites felt rela-
tively close to China-EU relations, but those who made a cautious judgment sig-
nificantly increased (see Table10.10).
10.7 The ChineseÉlites’Evaluation of the EU’s
International Influence
In a survey regarding the actor with the highest international political influence,
most of theélites believed that the USA exerted the greatest amount of international
political influence; most of theélites considered the EU as the actor with the second
greatest international political influence, followed by China, Russia and Japan in
that order. Theélites believed that the EU lagged behind the USA, but was still
ranked before China, suggesting that Chineseélites still had a definite opinion when
comparing China with the EU in 2010 (see Table10.11).
According to the survey results, most of the Chineseélites recognized the EU as
the actor with the second greatest influence in world economy, accounting for
59.2 %. Respondents considered the USA as the actor with the greatest influence,
accounting for 94.6 %. The highest proportion of Chineseélites considered the EU
Table 10.10 A word for describing China-EU relations (Unit%)
2007 2010 2007 2010
Friend 3.9 1.7 Competitor 0.5 3.8
Partner 57.4 28.9 Foe 0.5 0.3
Stakeholder 36.8 63.8 Others 0.5 1.6
NoteCompared with the data in the 2007 survey from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
SourceBased on data from the EU’s 7th Framework Programme in 2010
Table 10.11 The Chineseélites’evaluation of the EU’s international political influencein 2010
(Unit%)
The USA The EU Japan China Russia
Actor with the greatest influence 94.8 1.7 0.1 3 0
Actor with the second greatest influence 3.2 56.9 2.1 16.4 20.8
Actor with the third greatest influence 1.2 21.5 8.1* 40.5 25.7
SourceBased on data from the EU’s 7th Framework Programme in 2010
10 The Chinese Perception of the EU 195