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| People run with China and Hong Kong flags along Convention Avenue, on the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China, in Hong Kong, July 1. Negative views of China among Koreans are at a historic high of 80 percent, a recent survey shows. Reuters-Yonhap |
By Jung Min-ho
Negative views of China among Koreans are at a historic high of 80 percent, a recent survey shows.
According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan American think tank, unfavorable views of the neighboring country among Korean nationals have increased substantially over the last several years after China's economic retaliation for Korea's decision to deploy the THAAD missile defense system and the emergence of COVID-19, a contagious disease Chinese authorities initially tried to hide following a report from Wuhan.
Unfavorable views of China among Koreans stood at only 31 percent in a 2002 survey by the same organization. But the figure has increased steadily before staying at around 50 percent and then surging to 61 percent in 2017, the year after there were a series of economic retaliation actions in China against Korea for allowing the installation of the U.S.' THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense system on its territory.
The figure further increased to 75 percent in 2020, the year after the emergence of the new coronavirus in the Chinese city was officially reported, along with news about its authorities' botched attempt to cover it up. Within three months, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
"South Korea was heavily affected by Chinese economic retribution following the country's decision to install an American missile interceptor (THAAD). Negative views of China went up substantially in 2017 alongside this turmoil; they increased again in 2020 when, in the wake of COVID-19, unfavorable opinion went up in nearly every country surveyed," the Pew Research Center said in the study.
Such negative sentiment toward China is shared by many of the 19 nations surveyed. Japan (87 percent) is at the top, followed by Australia (86 percent), Sweden (83 percent), Canada (82 percent) and then Korea.
Korea also stands out for having the highest share of people (54 percent) who say Beijing's involvement in domestic politics is a very serious problem for their country. Australia, which comes in second with 52 percent, enacted new laws in 2018 to prevent foreign interference out of similar concerns.
In other countries, older people tend to be more likely to hold unfavorable views of China except in Korea, where adults under 30 are more likely than those 50 or older to hold unfavorable views of China.
