Red Storm

This is disturbing news. The world thinks that the most evil major power on earth is better than the land of the free? I am truly surprised that people in Britain and france view iron-fisted communist dictatorship more favorably than transparent democracy and individual liberty.

Poll: China Image Scores Better Than U.S.
By WILL LESTER
Associated Press Writer
June 23, 2005, 4:26 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- The United States' popularity in many countries -- including longtime allies in Europe -- is lagging behind even communist China.

The image of the U.S. slipped sharply in 2003, after the invasion of Iraq, and two years later has shown few signs of rebounding either in Western Europe or the Muslim world, an international poll found.

"The U.S. image has improved slightly, but is still broadly negative," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. "It's amazing when you see the European public rating the United States so poorly, especially in comparison with China."

In Britain, which prides itself on its "special relationship" with Washington, almost two-thirds of Britons, 65 percent, saw China favorably, compared with 55 percent who held a positive view of the United States. In France, 58 percent had an upbeat view of China, compared with 43 percent who felt that way about the U.S. The results were nearly the same in Spain and the Netherlands, the Pew polling found.

The United States' favorability rating was lowest among three Muslim nations that are also U.S. allies -- Turkey, Pakistan and Jordan -- where only about one-fifth of those polled viewed the U.S. in a positive light. Only Indonesia and Poland viewed the U.S. more positively than China.

"Clearly, with or without this poll we know we have a public diplomacy challenge, and that challenge is not lessening by the day," said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.

He said the United States is trying to combat that image problem, citing the frequent travels of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was ending a six-day swing through the Middle East and Europe on Thursday.

The poll found suspicion and wariness of the United States in many countries where people question the war in Iraq and are growing leery of the U.S.-led war on terror.

"The Iraq war has left an enduring impression on the minds of people around the world in ways that make them very suspicious of U.S. intentions and makes the effort to win hearts and minds far more difficult," said Shibley Telhami, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Support for the U.S.-led war on terror has dipped in European countries like Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Spain, while it remains low in the Muslim countries surveyed, such as Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey.

"The position of the United States as the one surviving superpower is to be assertive in responding in a world of terrorism. But in the rest of the world, there is a great wariness about that," said John Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The poll found a positive reaction in European countries to President Bush's campaign for more democracy in countries around the world. People in Muslim countries were wary of the U.S. campaign, but supportive of the idea of democracy in their own countries.

Let's hope the poll was intentionally skewed for ideological reasons. But I suspect the results would have been much different if Taiwan and Japan were included in the poll. In fact, I bet many countries won't feel so emotionally attached to China when it becomes a global power. It really isn't a surprise that people living in theocracies in the middle east would feel more comfortable with China as the hegemon. After all, they're already used to being under the thumb of their governments.

I'm starting a new category with this post. I studied China and the east Asian nations intensively when I was at Boston U. I firmly believe that the clash of civilizations isn't with the Muslim Arabic nations like Samuel Huntington does. I have thought for quite some time that conflict with China is inevitable. I intend to start posting more about the looming great power rivalry that will shape the 21st Century in this new category called Red Storm. So, there it is.