Singaporeans have more positive views on China than most people in other advanced economies, who continue to view China in a broadly negative light, according to a survey report published yesterday.
And although the images of both the United States and China were at or near historic lows last year, the US has since seen a turnaround in public opinion across 17 advanced economies, while most continue to see China unfavourably.
Singaporeans bucked the trend by being the only group to view China in a better light than the US, and to prefer stronger economic ties with China over the US, in the Pew Research Centre's Spring 2021 Global Attitudes Survey.
They also give China top marks for its handling of the pandemic and express high confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping, a departure from how he is panned elsewhere.
This was the first time Singaporeans were part of the regular survey, which polled nearly 19,000 people in 17 advanced economies in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.
In all, 1,124 Singaporean adults were interviewed over the phone in Malay, English or Mandarin in March and April.
Singaporeans are largely outliers in the survey. Negative views of China hit or remain near historic highs in most advanced economies compared with last year. A median of 27 per cent in the 17 populations have a favourable opinion of China.
In contrast, 64 per cent of Singaporeans have a favourable view of China.
This stands out from the rest of the Asia-Pacific, where a median of 73 per cent see China in a negative light. Japan has the most negative views, with roughly nine in 10 seeing China negatively. Two-thirds or more in Australia, South Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand have mostly negative views of China.
While views of China have stayed largely negative, positive views of the US have rebounded since last year, when Mr Donald Trump was president and the country was hit hard by the pandemic.
In an earlier Pew survey, a median of 34 per cent in 13 countries had favourable views of the US, while 24 per cent viewed China positively. Now, a median of 61 per cent have favourable views of the US, and 27 per cent for China.
"These broadly positive views reflect a significant shift since last summer, when ratings of the US were at or near historic lows in most countries," the report noted.
Correspondingly, confidence in Mr Xi to do the right thing in world affairs stayed at or near historic lows in most places, while confidence in the US president rose substantially since Democrat Joe Biden took office early this year.
A median of 77 per cent had no confidence in Mr Xi, though 70 per cent of Singaporeans expressed confidence in him - the same level of confidence as they had in Mr Biden.
Most people also say it is more important to have strong economic ties with the US than with China. This preference has grown significantly in recent years in Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea, the report noted.
"Notably, this preference comes despite the fact that as of 2020, more people name China over the US as the world's leading economic power, particularly in Europe," said the Pew report.
Ethnic and national identities were also found to play a role in attitudes in Taiwan and Singapore.
The report noted that in Taiwan, people who identify as Chinese and Taiwanese - rather than as only Taiwanese - tend to have more favourable views of China.
About 72 per cent of Chinese Singaporeans have favourable views of China, compared with 45 per cent of Malay Singaporeans and 52 per cent of Indian Singaporeans.
Asked about Singapore's divergence from the overall negative views of China, the report's lead author Laura Silver told The Straits Times: "This is the first time we have surveyed in Singapore so we are also not able to see whether these views in Singapore... are up or down or unchanged compared with the past.
"That said, one of the factors that certainly stand out in Singapore is the high percentage of people who identify as ethnically Chinese, and we also see that ethnic Chinese tend to be more positive towards China than ethnic Malays or Indians."
