As Trump attacks friends and foes, Americans are changing their minds about China

By Jessie Yeung, CNN

(CNN) — As the Trump administration wages real war with adversaries and trade wars with friends, Americans are changing their minds about the United States’ biggest rival, China, for the better, according to a new survey.

It’s a stark difference from just a few years ago, when Sinophobia and anti-Asian hate crimes in the US spiked during the Covid pandemic. Tensions between the two countries had deepened after a trade battle during US President Donald Trump’s first term, and by 2023, only 14% of Americans had a favorable view of China, according to data released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.

Now, that figure has nearly doubled to 27% – reflecting a broad shift in sentiment across the American public, especially among Democrats and young people. It mirrors a greater curiosity toward Chinese culture and entertainment on Western social media, evident in recent trends such as “Chinamaxxing.”

Fewer respondents called China an enemy now compared with last year, though most Americans still see it as a major competitor of the US, according to the report, which surveyed more than 8,500 adults nationwide in January and March.

The results also showed a softening of attitudes toward China’s authoritarian leader Xi Jinping, and an increased skepticism of Trump’s leadership.

More than twice as many (17%) Americans now voice confidence in Xi to do the right thing regarding world affairs, compared with 2023. Meanwhile, people are losing faith that Trump will make good policy decisions regarding China – down to 39% favorability, slipping six percentage points since last year.

This comes as Trump and Xi prepare to meet in Beijing in May, and as China has sought to portray itself as a stable, responsible world power – juxtaposed against Trump’s often unpredictable foreign policy, ranging from hefty global tariffs to the war with Iran.

In comments to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Tuesday, Xi declared that “the world today is rife with chaos, as it faces a showdown between justice and power,” according to a readout from China’s foreign ministry.

“How a nation treats international law and the international order reflects its worldview, its concept of order, its values, and its sense of responsibility,” Xi said.

Some Americans share similar views. Respondents in the survey evaluated Trump’s ability to make good policy regarding China similarly to his ability on foreign policy toward other countries – including North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela, according to Pew.

Sentiment in other nations is swaying China’s way, too. Nearly three times as many Canadians now have a positive view of China compared with 2021, according to one poll last fall. And in Southeast Asia, a recent survey found that a slim majority of respondents would choose China over the US, if the region had to align itself with one of the two.

The ‘Chinamaxxing’ generation

The Pew results showed some differences along certain partisan and demographic lines. Though respondents from both parties are warming toward China, that shift is particularly pronounced among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, the report said.

Similarly, a much higher number of Republicans than Democrats felt that Trump could make good decisions about China – though this confidence has fallen among Republicans, too.

There is also a significant generational divide. Americans over 50 are much more likely to say that China is an enemy of the US, while younger Americans have a much more positive view, the report showed. Younger people also had less confidence in Trump than their older peers.

This shift in opinion is visible online. There was the “Chinamaxxing” trend early this year, in which content creators tried common Chinese practices – drinking hot water, brewing fruit tea, doing traditional physical exercises – in the hopes of “becoming Chinese.”

There was the Adidas Tang jacket, which inspired a global shopping frenzy after it debuted at Shanghai Fashion Week. There’s the craze around Labubus – the Chinese-made figurines with fluffy exteriors and sharp, grinning teeth – which swept the globe last year, helping fuel a billion-dollar business.

And there’s Xiaohongshu, or RedNote – the hugely popular Chinese social media app where hundreds of thousands of American users flocked last year as they feared a potential TikTok ban in the US.

It was perhaps the first time Chinese and American social media users – normally separated by China’s Great Firewall – converged in such large numbers on one shared platform, creating a rare opportunity for people from both countries to share jokes and foster online camaraderie.

On the surface, these may be short-lived internet trends. But this wholehearted embrace of Chinese products and cultural exchange would have been hard to envision just a few years ago, when anti-Asian racism surged during the Covid era.

Beneath the memes and viral items is a shift in public opinion that holds real power – something that may play in Xi’s favor as he positions himself on the world stage.

The-CNN-Wire
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