mandag 20. mars 2023

German Public Opinion in the China Policy Debate

At the dawn of a new political era in Germany, the German population’s growing mistrust of China is a trend with significant implications for the country’s foreign policy.

In the March 2023 edition of the monthly political opinion poll ARD-Deutschlandtrend surveyed Germans were asked to identify their nation’s most trustworthy partners. The results revealed that a vast majority of respondents – 83 percent – do not consider China to be a trustworthy partner, a degree not far short of the levels of mistrust respondents have toward Russia (88 percent). Conversely, 33 percent of respondents view India as a trustworthy partner, while 59 percent believe the United States to be a trustworthy partner – the highest since before the election of President Donald Trump in 2016. Meanwhile, trust in China remains at the all-time low that it reached in 2020.