More Americans concerned China’s rise is threat to US national interest than any time since 1990: survey

Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll highlights concerns over American response to intellectual property theft, economic competition and global supply chains

Leaders’ meeting unlikely to change people’s views on China if not accompanied by ‘significant progress on issues important to the American people’: analyst

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China’s President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden are expected to meet at the Apec Summit in San Francisco this week. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:56pm, 14 Nov 2023Updated: 8:40pm, 14 Nov 2023

Nearly three in five Americans consider China’s rise a critical threat to US interests, a higher level than at any other point since the end of the Cold War, according to a new survey.

It found that large numbers believe US leaders are not paying enough attention to the issue of competition with China, particularly when it comes to the US response to intellectual property theft (65 per cent of respondents), economic competition (52 per cent) and China’s role in global supply chains (49 per cent). The poll was carried out on September 7-18 by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

The results of the survey released on Monday came ahead of a high-stakes meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Apec summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, as Washington and Beijing seek to stabilise ties despite their heightened rivalry on everything from military supremacy, technological advances and global influence.

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While the summit is not likely to end the stand-off between the world’s two largest economies, the latest survey has shed light on US public opinion about China as the country gears up for its next election cycle, when countering Beijing is likely to be high on the agenda.

In the highest recorded level of concern since the council first asked the question in 1990, most respondents (58 per cent) consider China’s rise a crucial threat to the vital interests of the US.

When asked to specify the areas of greatest concern regarding China, 23 per cent pointed to China’s economic power, followed by its Communist political system, its human rights policy and its military power.

Craig Kafura, an assistant director for public opinion and foreign policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said the 30-year peak in concern about the rise of China’s power was “certainly striking”.

Americans’ concerns about China “are more heavily weighted toward economic issues rather than the security or military issues that tend to dominate [Washington DC] discourse,” Kafura said.