China more popular than U.S. overseas?
What's your opinion?
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8324290/
New poll finds Iraq war a key factor in tattered image of U.S.The
Associated Press
Updated: 4:49 p.m. ET June 23, 2005
WASHINGTON - The United States image is so tattered overseas two
years after the Iraq invasion that China, which is ruled by a
communist dictatorship, is viewed more favorably than the U.S. in
many countries, an international poll found.
The poor image persists even though the Bush administration has
been promoting freedom and democracy throughout the world in recent
months and has sent hundreds of millions of dollars in relief aid
to Indian Ocean nations hit by the devastating Dec. 26
tsunami.
Its amazing when you see the European public rating the
United States so poorly, especially in comparison with
China, said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research
Center for the People & the Press.
Eleven of the 16 countries surveyed by the Pew Research
Center Britain, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Russia,
Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan and Indonesia had a more
favorable view of China than the United States.
India and Poland were more upbeat about the United States, while
Canadians are as likely to see China favorably as they were the
United States.
Iraq war taints U.S. image
The poll, which was released Thursday, found suspicion and wariness
of the United States in many countries where people question the
war in Iraq and are growing wary of the U.S.-led war on
terror.
The Iraq war has left an enduring impression on the minds of
people around the world in ways that make them very suspicious of
U.S. intentions and makes the effort to win hearts and minds far
more difficult, said Shibley Telhami, a senior fellow at the
Brookings Institution.
The overseas image of the United States slipped sharply after the
Iraq invasion in 2003, the Pew polling found, and it has not
rebounded in Western European countries like Britain, France,
Germany and Spain. The U.S. image remains relatively poor in Muslim
countries like Jordan and Pakistan, but has bounced back in
Indonesia, the worlds most populous Muslim country which benefited
from U.S. aid to tsunami victims, as well as in India and
Russia.
Support for the U.S.-led war on terror has dipped in European
countries like Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Spain, while it
remains low in the Muslim countries surveyed like Pakistan, Turkey
and Jordan.
Danforth: 'A great wariness' of U.S.
There is a general recognition that terrorism is a terrible
problem that strikes home in countries all over the world, said
John Danforth, the former Republican senator from Missouri who also
was U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The position of the United States as the one surviving superpower
is to be assertive in responding in a world of terrorism. But in
the rest of the world, there is a great wariness about that, said
Danforth, now a St. Louis attorney.
The poll found a positive reaction in European countries to
President Bushs campaign for more democracy in countries around
the world. People in Muslim countries were wary of the U.S.
campaign, but supportive of the idea of democracy in their own
countries.
Danforth said the attitudes in the Middle East about democracy were
a bright spot.
We should keep plugging away on democracy, he said. But we need
to do a better job of communicating what were trying to do.
The survey found that a majority in most countries say the United
States doesnt take the interests of other countries into account
when making international policy decisions. It also found most
would like to see another country get as much military power as the
United States, though few want China to play that role. People in
most countries were more inclined to say the war in Iraq has made
the world a more dangerous place.
People in other countries who had unfavorable views of the United
States were most likely to cite Bush as the reason rather than a
general problem with America.
Madeleine Albright, the secretary of state when Bill Clinton was
president, said big majorities of the public in these countries are
discontented with Bush and say Bushs re-election has made them
view the United States less favorably.
The polls were taken in various countries from late April to the
end of May with samples of about 1,000 in most countries, with more
interviews in India and China and slightly less than 1,000 in the
European countries. The margin of sampling error ranged from 2
percentage points to 4 percentage points, depending on the sample
size.
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
My 2 cents is the Europeans are suspicious of the Yankee
now 