Distrust of China soaring, poll finds

The Yomiuri Shimbun

A joint survey by The Yomiuri Shimbun and a weekly magazine published by China's official Xinhua News Agency has found that a record 87 percent of Japanese respondents consider China to be untrustworthy.

Also, 90 percent of the Japanese surveyed considered relations between their country and China to be bad, another record high since the Yomiuri began the joint survey with Oriental Outlook Weekly in 2007.

Among Chinese respondents, 81 percent thought bilateral ties were bad and 79 percent said Japan was untrustworthy.

The survey in Japan was carried out Oct. 22-24 by telephone, with 1,040 people aged 20 or older across the country responding. Forty-eight percent of the respondents were men.

In China, the weekly surveyed 1,045 people aged 20 or older either by telephone or via the Internet on Oct. 19-26. Fifty-three percent were men.

In response to a question about Japan-China relations in a similar poll in Japan in 2009, those saying they were good and those saying they were bad were almost equally divided at 45 percent and 47 percent, respectively.

Although a simple comparison cannot necessarily be made between the 2009 findings and the results of the latest poll, as the survey in Japan last year was conducted through face-to-face interviews, feelings among the Japanese public toward China have clearly deteriorated rapidly.

The previous high of those saying Japan-China relations were bad in the joint survey was 57 percent in 2008, far lower than the latest figure of 90 percent.

In the 2009 survey in China, 50 percent of pollees deemed bilateral relations to be good, compared with 43 percent who said they were bad.

The majority of Japanese and Chinese respondents to last year's joint survey also said the other country was untrustworthy, but the figures were much lower at 69 percent in Japan and 63 percent in China.

One question asked only in Japan in this year's Yomiuri-Oriental Outlook survey was how the respondents viewed the issue of the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, which are under Japanese control but claimed by China and Taiwan.

Eighty percent said the Japan-China dispute over the islands in the East China Sea will remain a major impediment to relations between them.

In another question asked just in Japan, 89 percent of respondents said they were anxious about China increasing diplomatic pressure on other countries on the strength of its rapidly growing economy and military might.

Asked to cite countries they thought do or could pose a military threat to Japan, the largest number of Japanese, 81 percent, chose North Korea. With more than one answer possible, China placed second with 79 percent.