Japanese Views of China Remain Overwhelmingly Negative

November 13, 2018

Washington--A survey by the Pew Research Center showed Monday that 78 pct of Japanese hold an unfavorable impression of China.

Since hitting a peak of 93 pct in 2013, the proportion of Japanese with negative views of China has kept falling but remains way higher than the percentage of those with favorable opinions, which stood at 17 pct in the U.S. think tank's latest survey.

Japanese who lack confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping accounted for 76 pct, according to the survey conducted from May to June this year on 1,016 people in Japan.

Nonetheless, 79 pct concede that China plays a more important role in the world today compared with 10 years ago.

The survey also showed that 33 pct of Japanese think more immigration increases the risk of terrorism in their country, while 60 pct believe immigrants' presence in Japan do not increase the risk of future terrorist attacks.

Elsewhere in the survey, 56 pct say they are not satisfied with Japan's democracy, overwhelming the proportion of satisfied respondents, which came to 40 pct.

Meanwhile, 62 pct believe their freedom of speech is protected, according to the survey. Jiji Press