China seen as global power by 47% of countries polled: Survey

The world is increasingly seeing China as a leading economic power ranking at par with the United states although countries like India and Japan are yet to reckon China ranking at par with the United States.

About 47 per cent of the 38 nations surveyed has a favourable opinion of China being considered a superpower, 37 per cent are unfavourably disposed, a PEW survey showed.

Seven of the 10 EU countries surveyed also consider China the leading economic power (it is tied with the US for top spot in Italy). However, India continues to believe US is the world's leading economy.

While 41 per cent of Indians have an unfavourable view of China, 26 per cent a more positive image of it.

Likewise, Japan, parts of Asia and Latin America also consider America as the leading economy, even as most of Russia believes China is the economic leader.

"China leads the US by a two-to-one margin in Australia - a longtime US ally, but also a country whose top trading partner is China," says the survey.

While post Trump, global approval for the US stands at 49 per cent, with 39 per cent giving a thumbs down, one thing that is common between the US and China is the negative view of both Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

About "53 per cent say they do not have confidence in Jinping in world affairs. A much greater share (74 per cent) express little or no confidence in Trump. Xi is less well-known than Trump: One-in-five do not have an opinion of Jinping, while only a median of 8% have no opinion about Trump."

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is liked even less than Xi.

The only leader who makes the cut is German chancellor Angela Merkel – 42 per cent have confidence in (her), just 31 per cent say they do not."

Russia and Nigeria are China's biggest cheerleaders, with over 70 per cent approval. In many big Asian nations, China is viewed much more negatively, "with a particularly steep decline in South Korea".

Australia has the most positive view of China in Asia (64 per cent). Xi Jinping receives negative approval in US, but curiously more people in India are ambivalent about him. "South Korea is the most likely to say that the US is the leading economic power (66 per cent)."