Public Polls About China

It was investigated that more people think they have to put more value on China rather than the U.S. in terms of diplomacy and security as well as the economy in the future.

According to the results of a poll for which Dong-A Ilbo entrusted the Korea Research Center (KRC) that investigated 1,024 adult people on May 2, 61.6 percent of them chose China as “the most important country for Korea in terms of economy from now on.”

The U.S. was mentioned by 26.2 percent and Japan by 5.7 percent. The response of valuing (48.3 percent) more in China in diplomacy and security was higher than the U.S. (38.1 percent) by 10.2 percent.

This result is noticeable because the majority of poll opinions by members of National Assembly in Woori Party that say “we should focus more on China than the U.S. in our foreign policy of the future,” reflect public opinion. About 84 percent of public people polled agreed that “serious consideration of China” in the political world was important.

In the preference poll, China got a lot more positive (28.0 percent) than negative (11.8 percent) feedback. Meanwhile, the U.S. had a bit more positive (22.8 percent) than negative, (16.2 percent) and Japan took over twice negative (35.1 percent) than positive. (15.1 percent)

However, China was considered more as a “competitive rival (51.9 percent) than a Korean economic partner (43.1 percent), and 78.7 percent expected that products of China would surpass Korean products within 10 years, showing Koreans’ anxieties about China.

The head of the Trade Research Center in the Korea Trading Association, Hyun O-seok, analyzed, “As we experiencing “China Shock” according to the retrenchment policy of the China government, we came to have higher risk on the rapid growth of the Chinese economy.”

The standard deviation of the research, carried out by telephone interview, is 95 percent ± 3.1 percent, and more details can be found in the poll archive section of www.donga.com.