China's global approval speaks louder than false narratives

The Gallup poll released on April 3 showing that China surpassed the United States in global approval ratings in 2025 by five percentage points has made headlines across the world.

China's median approval rating was 36 percent compared to 31 percent for the US, the widest lead in favor of China in nearly 20 years.

Gallup notes that the surveys were conducted in 2025 and predate several major developments in early 2026, such as the US withdrawal from 66 international organizations in January and the war with Iran on Feb 28, suggesting that the gap could be even wider if the surveys had been conducted last month.

The latest Gallup poll, which surveyed in more than 130 countries, is more credible compared with many others with much smaller samples.

Surveys by various organizations in the past year have pointed to the same trend.

A Pew survey released in July last year showed that a favorable view of China had increased in all 25 countries surveyed even though most of those countries are US security allies, including many NATO members.

Since the Pew Global Attitudes Project surveys mostly advanced Western countries while ignoring countries in the Global South, the shift in favorability toward China is especially telling.

Meanwhile, a survey, conducted between Jan 5 and Feb 20 in 11 ASEAN member states by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and released on Tuesday, showed that a majority of respondents across the region would align with China over the US if forced to choose sides.

While 52 percent of the respondents chose China, 48 percent favored the US.

Another survey, conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations in 21 countries across the world, including 10 European Union member states, and released in January revealed that most respondents believe China will have more global influence over the next decade.

These findings are remarkable in the backdrop of the widespread smear campaigns waged against China by the US and some other Western governments, politicians and news media outlets in past years.

China bashing has long been a favorite sport for US politicians.

Check the X messages posted by Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton and some other US lawmakers and you will find them slandering China on a daily basis to mislead their countrymen.

But you will not find one Chinese lawmaker at the National People's Congress doing the same to the US.

Chinese leaders and senior officials have never reciprocated the smear campaigns against China by their US counterparts.

The Gallup survey shows that most countries do not have a strong preference for one power over the other.

Most countries do not want to be forced to choose sides but want to develop good relations with both China and the US.

China has strongly opposed US coercion to force countries to pick sides.

It is against a new Cold War and any plot to divide the world into confrontational political blocs. Beijing has long been advocating for a multipolar world.

It is heartening to note that more people in the world, especially in countries that used to be heavily influenced by the US, have finally recognized the positive and responsible role played by China on the world stage.

While the declining US approval is a sad reflection of its reckless foreign policy, it is nothing to be celebrated.

It is in the interest of the US, China and the whole world for the US to act as a responsible major power in the world.

The many global challenges, from world peace to economic development, won't be dealt with effectively if China and the US, the two largest economies in the world, do not cooperate but resort to confrontation.

Both nations have more to gain from working together than from working at cross purposes.

The author is a China Daily columnist

chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn