China to catch up with US economy: world poll
Mon May 28, 4:55 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070528/ts_alt_afp/uschinaeconomypoll_070528205219
China is on course to catch up with the United States and join the
front ranks of world economic powers, but that is little cause for
concern even among Americans, a global survey said Monday.
But the same poll showed there is generally as much distrust of the
United States as there is of China to "act responsibly" in world
affairs.
Most respondents in 13 countries agreed it was "likely that someday
China's economy will grow to be as large as the US economy," according
to the opinion poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and
WorldPublicOpinion.org.
"What is particularly striking is that despite the tectonic
significance of China catching up with the US, overall the world
public's response is low key -- almost philosophical," said Steven
Kull, editor of WorldPublicOpinion.org.
In no country was there a majority who felt that China's economic rise
would be mostly negative, but that was not because China is
particularly trusted, the pollsters said.
Majorities in 10 out of 15 countries said they did not trust China "to
act responsibly in the world." But the same number also said they
distrusted the United States.
"Though people are not threatened by the rise of China, they do not
appear to be assuming that it will be a new benign world leader," Kull
said.
"They seem to have a clear-eyed view that China is largely acting on
its own interests."
The Chinese themselves are among the more skeptical populations, with
only half saying that their economy will catch up with the United
States'. Among Americans, the percentage was 60 percent.
Only in India and the Philippines did a plurality of respondents say
the United States would always remain a bigger economy than China.
The highest level of concern about the implications of China's
economic march was in the United States, where one in three is
worried.
But 54 percent of Americans said that its rise would be "neither
positive nor negative" while one in 10 said it would be mostly
positive.
Only in Iran did a majority -- 60 percent -- say that it would be
"mostly positive for China to catch up."
"Their favorable outlook may stem in part from heavy Chinese
investment in Iranian oil as well as Iranian desires to have a
counterweight to American power," the pollsters said.
The survey included 18 countries: Australia, Argentina, Armenia,
China, France, India, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines,
Poland, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United States,
plus the Palestinian territories.
Not every question of the poll was asked in each country, so that the
results for some questions covered less than 18 countries.
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Celibacy in healthy human beings is a form of
insanity. -- Captain Compassion
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
|
