by Brit Muscovite
We find it very important to know what do other people think about us. Do you agree? With this purpose I’d like to start today a new theme in this blog - attitude of russian people to different countries and nations. Before you go to Moscow, let you inform about.
Article by Elena Vovk www.fom.ru
China
Nation-wide home interviews conducted March 11-12 2006 in 100 residencies in 44 regions. A sample size of 1500 respondents. Additional polls of the Moscow population, with a sample of 600 respondents. The margin of error does not exceed 3,6%.
China tends to be seen by today's Russians as a friendly country (more so than the opposite,) although it is worth noting that the ratio of those holding the former and the latter opinions is small: 48% against 30%. Comparing today's data with figures from previous polls, we can see that the Sino-Russian relations are seen more and more as cold and unfriendly: the share of those considering China to be friendly towards Russia has decreased since 2004 by 7 percentage points (from 55%), while the number of those expressing the opposite view has increased by 9 percentage points (from 21%). In 2002, the figures were 67% and 18%, respectively.
As for Russians' personal attitude toward China, compared with poll data received five years ago, it seems to have gotten worse: if in 2001, 43% of respondents felt positively about this country, with 6% feeling negatively, then today, the figures are 32% and 13%, respectively; 51% of those surveyed are indifferent to China.
Comparing rates of economic development in Russia and China, the majority of respondents (67%) say that China is more successful than Russia (the share of those expressing the opposite view was but 18%). When influence in the world was discussed, 64% of respondents said that Russia is more influential than China, while 21% found China to be the more influential country. We should note that since 2002 (when both questions were asked for the first time) Russian's opinions about the countries' economic development are unchanged, and when comparing their political influence in the world, respondents consider Russia to be more influential than China slightly less so than before (in 2002, the ratio was 73% to 11%).
At the same time, 47% of those surveyed believe that opinion that China will be among the world leaders in the economic and political spheres over the next 10 years, while 27% think China will not.
There is no agreement among respondents on whether China's growing strength threatens Russia's interests: 41% answered positively, 36% - negatively, and 23% had difficulty opining.
Those considering China's growing strength to be a threat to Russia's interests were asked to explain their opinion. They mostly spoke about the risk of territorial expansion: the increasing flow of illegal immigrants from China, and further territorial disputes ("they may claim the territory up to the Urals" – 22% of answers to an open-ended question). The probability of China's military threat was mentioned as well ("the more powerful a state, the greater the threat it poses"; "a war may be unleashed as China wants to obtain new territory" – 3%). Some people are appalled at the vast size of the Chinese population ("they can crush by their numbers alone" – 8% of answers). Respondents were less likely to consider China's growing strength to be a threat to Russia's national economy. 4% spoke about the overflow of cheap goods of poor quality from China to the Russian market ("they turn our industrial market on"; "a lot of consumer goods from China"; "they dumped their goods unto our market"), 2% mentioned China's capturing of Russian natural resources ("they are seeking our mineral and lumber riches"; "they consider us to be the primary source of resources"). Some people (4%) say that China can compete with Russia in the world economic and political spheres ("If China becomes one of the world's leaders, Russia will be ignored and our country will pale into insignificance".
Article by Elena Vovk
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