The Portrait of a Menacing and Threatening "Olympic Host" -- China seen
as biggest threat to stability

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China

China seen as biggest threat to stability

By Ben Hall in Paris and Geoff Dyer in Shanghai

Published: April 15 2008 01:51 | Last updated: April 15 2008 01:51

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China has overtaken the US as the biggest threat to global stability in
the eyes of Europeans, according to a Harris opinion poll for the
Financial Times.

The recent wave of protests and riots in Tibet and the ensuing Chinese
crackdown, together with competition from cheap Chinese exports, appear
to have dramatically hardened opinion, with the proportion of Europeans
who saw China as the biggest threat almost doubling since last year.

The FT/Harris poll, carried out between March 27 and April 8, found an
average of 35 per cent of respondents in five European countries saw
China as a bigger threat to global stability than any other state. In
the US, 31 per cent of respondents also named China, putting it way
above Iran and North Korea, which were both perceived as greater threats
last year.

The poll was carried out shortly after the unrest in Tibet and during
the early stages of the controversial Olympic torch relay. But there
were already rising tensions between the European Union and China over
trade issues and exchange rates.

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Italians were the most concerned about China with 47 per cent naming the
country as the biggest threat, compared with 26 per cent when the
question was last asked in June 2007. The Italian reaction was primarily
an expression of resentment at unfair competition from Chinese
manufacturers, said Marta Dassù, director of the Aspen Institute Italia,
a Rome-based think-tank. “China is a symbol of what Italians dislike
about globalisation,” she said.

The latest Harris poll found that China was the biggest threat for 36
per cent in France, up from 22 per cent last year, 35 per cent in
Germany, up from 18 per cent, and 27 per cent in the UK, up from 16 per
cent. All three last year ranked the US as a bigger threat.

Only inhabitants of Spain still considered the US to be a bigger threat
than China, by 41 per cent to 28 per cent.

“The profile has changed,” said Mark Leonard, executive director of the
European Council on Foreign Relations and author of What Does China Think?

“The story of the last five years has been about economic opportunities.
The story of the last six months has been about China as a threat in
Darfur and in Tibet.” The little that Europeans knew about China came
from news coverage, recently unfavourable, whereas they were constantly
consuming US popular culture, Mr Leonard explained.

The US was considered to be the biggest threat by 29 per cent of
respondents in Europe, down from 32 per cent in June, which could
indicate a softening of attitudes to the administration of George
W.Bush as it reaches its final months.

www.ft.com/harrispoll

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008