Global perceptions of China are undergoing a notable shift, with several young Americans saying their overall views have been less shaped by geopolitical concerns and more by the personal experiences they’ve had or the individual connections they’ve built with Chinese people.
A survey released by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center last month showed that favorable views of China have risen significantly in many countries. In the United States, the share of respondents holding positive opinions of China reached 27 percent, almost double the figure recorded in 2023 and marking the third consecutive year of improving public opinion.
On the streets of New York, young Americans shared their impressions of China. Student Julia Applebrough said her exposure to Chinese culture first came through a family connection.
“I have friends from China, from school, like familial friends. My dad used to study Chinese economics in the housing market. So, I’ve met a lot of Chinese nationals that way. I’ve been to China,” she said.
Such academic and personal relationships have prompted some to reevaluate the systemic differences between China and the United States.
“Most of them, I would say, has been a lot of people that either that you’ve went to school with, so then you learn like different [things] about their life. For example, like the opportunities that they’ve had coming from China to here. For example, like the government helping kids to like go to school, something that we think that we’re better than other countries, but we’re really not,” said Elsie Broome, another student.
Beyond these social reflections, Applebrough said the current policies of the U.S. government run counter to the vision of attracting global talent, which she believes will only come to harm the United States itself.
“I see no reason why we’re so aggressive in terms of our visa policies. If anything, like all the Chinese people that I’ve ever met that came here are really hard working and smart. I feel like the way that we’ve been successful as a country is by being able to capitalize off of the rest of the world’s talent because they want to come here, and now we’re just sort of doing the policy vision that is completely counteracting that and it’s only going to serve to harm us in the long run,” she said.
US students view China based on personal experiences rather than geopolitics
China’s development has never been a “threat” to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.
Some Western media and think tanks are peddling so-called “China Shock 2.0,” saying that “China is achieving fast development in high-tech sectors such as renewable energy and AI and relies on foreign markets to absorb its overcapacity, thus reducing the market share of developed countries and sending more serious shock waves to the global economy compared with the era of traditional manufacture industry,” while there are foreign commentators saying that the “China Shock 2.0” argument ignores the genuine innovation occurring within the Chinese industrial ecosystem and that Chinese export is the exact booster of the global economy that is needed in the turbulent period and more indispensable than ever.
Commenting on that, Lin said: “From the world’s factory to the world’s market and innovation powerhouse, China’s development is achieved through strong performance driven by innovation and brings tangible cooperation opportunities and space to the world. High-quality Chinese products represented by the ‘old three’ of textiles, furniture and home appliances have stabilized the global industrial and supply chain, lowered the living cost of global consumers and eased the inflationary pressure worldwide. China’s green production capacity represented by the ‘new three’ of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has bridged the gap between supply and demand in global green development and bolstered the global energy transition and low-carbon development. Moreover, China’s high-tech products represented by the ‘new new three’ of robots, AI and innovative drugs have broken high-tech barriers and monopoly and enabled people in more countries to access affordable new technologies,” said the spokesman.
“Openness and cooperation bring about progress and win-win result. China’s development has never been a ‘threat’ to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries. What really creates ‘shocks’ to the world has never been the innovation of Chinese companies and efficiency of Chinese industrial capacity, but protectionist moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains. China will stay committed to high-standard opening up, defend the multilateral trading system and provide more certainty and new impetus to the world economy with its own steady development,” said Lin.
China’s development never a threat: FM spokesman