Friday, December 09, 2005

US Public Opinion On Great Power Peers

American Enterprise Institute cites an interesting Harris Interactive poll of American attitudes towards peer great powers:

A Harris Interactive poll taken in mid-October found much more concern among Americans about China than about India, Russia or Japan.

Forty-five percent said it was in the best interests of the U.S. for Russia to grow and prosper; 31 percent said we should be concerned about them. Respondents were split on those questions when asked about India: 39 percent and 35 percent, respectively.

But when asked about China, only 24 percent said we should want China to grow and prosper, compared to 58 percent who said we should be concerned about that prospect.

In another question, 70 percent said China would be a superpower in 10 years. By contrast, 41 percent felt that way about Japan, 20 percent felt so about India and 15 percent believed that about Russia.


And the poll found that a majority--52 percent--were “extremely” or “very” concerned about China becoming stronger than the U.S. militarily in 10 years. Another 21 percent said they were concerned about the prospect, while 27 percent said they were “somewhat” or “not at all” concerned.

In the meantime, an Oct. 12-13 Pew Research Center poll found that 16 percent described China as an adversary, 45 percent as a serious problem but not an adversary, and 30 percent as not much of a problem. Those numbers have been pretty consistent in eight other askings of the question since 1997.

6 comments:

doubtinggaurav said...

PR,

Even discounting for the usual hyperbole, I am sure that China is going to be the next contender.
India even if able to match its economic growth (which I doubt) will lag.
Chinese leadership is focussed, it has its aim (domination) and ways to achieve it (economic reform and integration, military buildup, strategic tie ups).
In contract Indian thinking is at best fuzzy and at worst delusional.
Indian intellectual in order to achieve utopia ignore little pesky things like reality.
That is the reason for "Give Peace A Chance", and "Chindia" (This was by Jairam Ramesh).

Regards

Anonymous said...

DG, let us not forget that the chinese will someday have to go through a massive societal upheaval. and contrary to popular belief, they are ill equiped to manage the fallout.

india is an enviable position..if she plays her cards right, she could benefit immensily....but as you said - only realism will take her there.

Anonymous said...

my apologies for the spelling error/s

libertarian said...

PR, 10 years is a short time - India will be no superpower in 10 years. 20 years out is an entirely different matter though.

dg, like nukh pointed out, the Chinese are headed towards a wall. In any case a closed society is always able to hide even severe deficiencies. Just take a look at their banking system. I'm no fan of delusions, but seems you're overly pessimistic.

Anonymous said...

ladies & gentlemen, i am sorry for posting out of context..do forgive.i am in a bind.

i and a few other [indian] alumni friends are attempting to organize a kashmir related conference on a new york campus.
i would appreciate if you guys could recommend someone, based in the U.S.. preferably in the new york area, who could articulate the indian perspective....firmly....or a la neo con style.

p.s. how may i correspond directly with the keepers of this blog?
shall i write my email address?

Primary Red said...

nukh:

If you were to give us your e-mail, one of us will be happy to write back. We'll then delete your comment here (with your e-mail).

Best regards

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