中美之間好感下降，不信任增強
2013年07月19日
北京——皮尤全球調查(Pew Global Survey)周四發佈的調查結果顯示，美國人對中國的看法明顯地不如兩年前那麼好，中國人對美國的態度也在變差，這標誌着在公共輿論層面，中美兩國正日漸疏遠。
調查顯示，自2011年以來，美國人對中國的贊同率下降了14個百分點，降至37%，這是中國在世界各地得到的最低贊同率。而中國人對美國的反感率增加了9個百分點，上升到53%。
位於華盛頓的皮尤國際經濟態度中心(Pew Global Economic Attitudes)主任布魯斯·斯托克斯(Bruce Stokes)表示，美國民眾對中國的深度懷疑所反映的，是長期以來對中國快速增長的經濟的擔憂，儘管中國經濟增長正在放緩，但人們擔心中國給美國脆弱經濟中的就業問題帶來威脅。
但是中國的意見領袖，以及熟悉美國的中國人，對中國不斷變差的形象給出了更全面的解釋，不僅局限於純粹的經濟原因。
他們提出，中國把自己描繪成出現在世界舞台上的重新拾起信心的富強大國，這種姿態在美國和歐洲看來似乎是一種威脅。有些人把原因歸於美國新聞媒體，稱其對中國的報道一貫地負面。他們說，中國突然對某些鄰國（包括日本）發怒，可能也是產生這種不安的原因。
他們說，特別是在美國，中國人引人注目地展示個人財富，讓人產生反感。他們說，中國企業收購美國品牌的資產也正在引起恐慌，比如，最近雙匯國際食品公司(Shuanghui International)以47億美元（約合288億元人民幣）的報價收購史密斯菲爾德食品公司(Smithfield Foods)。
他們說，另一個引起美國人怨憤的原因是，中國精英階層將自己的孩子送進美國頂尖中學和大學，在某些情況下，這會將那些不那麼富有的美國申請者擠出去。
中國國家電視台CCTV一名採訪世界領導人的著名記者芮成鋼稱，「當中國稱自己是強國或者是大國時，美國和其他國家的人感到緊張是可以理解的。人們看到中國與日本和其他鄰國之間發生的事情，看到軍事演習，他們感到緊張是可以理解的。」
芮成鋼說他認為這種擔心是不必要的。他說，「對中國有幾十年經驗的世界領導人，從亨利·基辛格(Henry Kissinger)到羅伯特·佐利克(Robert Zoellick)都說，中國有許多國內的問題需要處理，比如環境污染、大學畢業生失業，以及不良貸款等。」
皮尤調查結果發佈之時，正是華盛頓和北京之間原已波折不斷的經濟和軍事關係，因愛德華·J·斯諾登(Edward J. Snowden)泄密事件而進一步惡化之際。前國家安全部門合同僱員斯諾登在上月泄露了美國國家安全局(National Security Agency)對外國人和美國人進行大範圍監聽監視的詳細信息。
這次調查是在3月和4月期間在39個國家進行的，遠在能估量斯諾登事件產生的影響之前。中國國家媒體對美國大範圍網絡間諜行為被曝光的報道，極盡諷刺挖苦之能事，在中國流行的新浪微博平台上煽動了人們對美國的不信任情緒。
在美國，皮尤公司在3月4日至18日期間對1002個人進行了電話採訪。在中國，零點調查公司(Horizonkey)從3月4日至4月6日在12個城市對3226人進行了面對面採訪。之後皮尤公司購買了這些調查結果。兩項調查的誤差範圍在正負4個百分點之間。
由於調查的焦點是中美之間不斷增長的競爭對抗，其結果在美國政府內部激起了廣泛的興趣。皮尤公司在本周公布該調查結果之前，曾給美國國務院(State Department)官員吹風。
總的來說，美國在世界上的受歡迎程度高於中國，美國受歡迎程度的中位值是63%，中國的是50%。調查顯示，人們認為美國比中國更尊重公民的個人自由，絕大多數來自德國、法國和西班牙的被調查者認為個人自由在中國被忽視。
中國在非洲最受歡迎，贊同率為72%，接下來是在亞洲和拉丁美洲，贊同率為58%。中國在歐洲的贊同率為43%。
中國在西方的低贊同率與北京外國語大學政治科學系教授謝濤最近的研究結果吻合。
謝濤在《當代中國》(The Journal of Contemporary China)現刊上發表的一篇論文中寫道，貧窮國家的人羨慕中國的經濟成功，而西方國家則對中國的政治體制持負面態度，這種態度與中國的經濟成就相比佔了上風。該期刊由一家英國公司出版。
謝濤在採訪中說，「在西方發達國家，人們更關注價值觀和政治權利。不管德國總理默克爾與中國領導人多麼親密無間，在德國公眾層面，人們對中國的態度不會改變。」
謝濤說，他的論文《是什麼在影響中國的國家形象？一次對輿論的跨國研究》(What Affects China』s National Image? A Cross-National Study of Public Opinion)因批評了中國政府在很多國家開辦的孔子學院(Confucius Institutes)而被中國學術刊物拒稿。論文稱，旨在傳播軟實力的孔子學院在很多已開辦了該機構的國家中，未能挽回中國「相當負面的形象」。
北京知名媒體評論員洪晃說，中國在國外、尤其是在美國的形象面臨著兩大主要障礙。
曾在美國居住、現為美國公民的洪晃說，首先，美國新聞媒體對中國進行的報道有偏見。其次，中國政府向世界展示中國的努力很笨拙，雖然在語言培訓機構及在時代廣場打廣告上花了幾十億，但效果不佳。
她說，「中國政府可能是在公共關係上做得最糟糕的政府。我覺得烏干達政府也不會比這更差。」
附屬於中國外交部的中國國際關係學會理事、中國商人高志凱認為，中國展示自己的方式很難被理解。他說，「政府自稱奉行馬克思主義，但這與字典里的定義不符。」
高志凱說，調查結果顯示中國對美國的好感下降不具有說服力。「很多中國人不喜歡美國政府的政策，但他們不把政府的政策與人民等同起來。」
他說，比如，中國的家長都喜歡把孩子送到美國的學校，「他們知道美國更有創新意識。」
July 19, 2013
In China and U.S., Mutual Distrust Grows, Study Finds
BEIJING — Americans view China in a markedly less favorable light than two years ago, and Chinese attitudes toward the United States have also soured, a sign that the two countries are drifting apart at the level of public opinion, according to a Pew Global Survey to be released on Thursday.
The survey showed that since 2011, China's approval rating in the United States has dropped 14 percentage points to 37 percent, the lowest rating for China in any region in the world. Negative attitudes toward the United States among the Chinese rose to 53 percent, a nine-point increase.
The deep skepticism toward China in the United States reflected the persistent worry that China's fast-growing economy, even though it is slowing, threatens jobs in a weak American economy, said Bruce Stokes, the director of Pew Global Economic Attitudes, in Washington.
But opinion makers in China, and Chinese people familiar with the United States, gave far broader reasons than pure economics for China's sinking image.
They cited China's portrayal of itself as a newly confident and rich power on the world stage, a posture that seems threatening to Americans and Europeans. Some Chinese pointed to what they regarded as consistently negative coverage of China in the American news media. China's suddenly testy relations with some of its neighbors, including Japan, probably contributed to the unease, they said.
In the United States, in particular, Chinese personal wealth has been on conspicuous display, generating bitterness, they said. And Chinese corporations — most recently Shuanghui International, which made a $4.7 billion bid for the United States' biggest pork producer, Smithfield Foods — are causing consternation about Chinese ownership of brand-name American assets, they said.
Another development that is breeding American resentment, they said, is the Chinese elite's practice of sending its children to top American schools and universities, in some cases crowding out American applicants with fewer resources.
"It is understandable that Americans and others are nervous about China when it talks about itself as a great power or a major power," said Rui Chenggang, a prominent interviewer of world leaders on CCTV, China's state-run television. "It's understandable that when people see what is happening between China and Japan and neighboring countries, and they see military exercises, that they are nervous."
Mr. Rui said he believed that concern was misplaced. "All the world thinkers who have decades of experience in China, from Henry Kissinger to Robert Zoellick, say China will be preoccupied by its domestic challenges, like environmental pollution, unemployment among college students and nonperforming loans," he said.
The Pew results arrive as already bumpy economic and military relations between Washington and Beijing have been damaged further by the revelations of Edward J. Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who last month leaked details of the National Security Agency's sweeping surveillance of foreigners and Americans.
The survey was conducted in March and April in 39 countries, well before the impact of Mr. Snowden's actions could be measured. The disclosures about the extent of American cyberespionage have received scornful coverage in China's state-run news media and have fanned distrust of the United States on China's Weibo, a popular microblogging platform.
In the United States, Pew interviewed 1,002 people by phone from March 4 to March 18. In China, Horizonkey conducted the survey from March 4 to April 6, with personal interviews of 3,226 people in 12 cities. Pew later bought those results. Both surveys had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.
With a focus on the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China, the results have piqued widespread interest within the American government. This week, in advance of the survey's release, Pew briefed State Department officials.
Over all, the United States was regarded more favorably in the world than China, with a median 63 percent to 50 percent. America was believed to respect the personal freedoms of its people far more than China, with large majorities in Germany, France and Spain saying individual freedoms were ignored in China, the poll said.
China was viewed most favorably in Africa, with a 72 percent approval rating, followed by Asia and Latin America, at 58 percent. China's approval rating in Europe was 43 percent.
China's low approval rating in the West correlated with the recent findings of Tao Xie, a professor of political science at Beijing Foreign Studies University.
In a paper in the current issue of The Journal of Contemporary China, published by a British company, Professor Tao wrote that people in poor countries admired China's economic success, while those in the West had negative feelings about China's political system that trumped its economic achievements.
"In developed, Western countries, people care more about values and political rights," Professor Tao said in an interview. "Regardless of how cozy a relationship the German leader, Chancellor Merkel, has with the Chinese leaders, at the popular level in Germany attitudes to China are not going to change."
Professor Tao's article, "What Affects China's National Image? A Cross-National Study of Public Opinion," was rejected by Chinese academic publications because it criticized the Confucius Institutes that the Chinese government has opened in many countries, he said. The article said the institutes, designed to project soft power, had failed to reverse China's "rather negative image" in most of the countries where they operated.
China's image abroad, particularly in the United States, faces two major hurdles, said Hung Huang, a prominent media commentator in Beijing.
First, the American news media have given unfair coverage of China, said Ms. Hung, who has lived in the United States and is now an American citizen. Second, she said, the Chinese government bungled its efforts to present China to the world, even as billions were spent on language-training institutes and electronic billboards in Times Square.
"The Chinese government is probably the worst government at PR," she said. "I don't think the Ugandan government can do any worse."
A Chinese businessman, Victor Gao, who is director of the China National Association of International Studies, a group affiliated with China's Foreign Ministry, said China presented itself in ways that were hard to understand. "The government calls itself Marxist, but that doesn't match the definition in the dictionary," he said.
The survey results that showed the United States was losing favor in China were not persuasive, Mr. Gao said. "Many Chinese don't like the policies of the United States government, but they don't equate the policies of the government with the people."
For example, he said, Chinese parents like to send their children to American schools. "They know America is innovative," he said.
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