Bulk of US citizens disapprove of China's coronavirus response - survey

As the world confronts the deadly coronavirus pandemic, China has been accused of spreading disinformation and further suppressing basic freedoms.

By ZACHARY KEYSER
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), talk at the second plenary session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 25, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), talk at the second plenary session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 25, 2020
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The bulk of the United States population is critical of the Chinese government's handling of the coronavirus crisis and distrusts any information that comes out of Beijing, according to a recent survey of Americans carried out by the PEW Research Center.
The unweighted sample size of the national survey included 10,957 adult participants, 41.8% of whom identify with or closely with the Republican Party and 58.2% identified with or closely with the Democratic Party.
Nearly two-thirds (66%) of Americans say that China has handled the coronavirus pandemic poorly and rated their response to the outbreak as the worst in the world among six other countries participants were asked about in the survey, including Italy. Some 37% of Americans gave China the worst score possible, whereas only 27% of the survey sample gave Italy the worst score.
About three-in-ten (29%) believe that the coronavirus blunder will negatively impact the reputation of the Chinese government over time, leading them to hold less standing in the international community, where eventually mistrust will build  regarding the value of their word. However, 17% think the opposite, and believe their influence will grow, while 31% don't expect any real change.
More than eight-in-ten Americans (84%) are incredulous to information disseminated by the Chinese government surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. Nearly half (49%) don't believe a word that comes out of their mouths. In relation, 18% of Americans share the same feeling of mistrust towards information disseminated by World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the global pandemic.
When it comes to partisanship, PEW states that Republicans tend to be more critical of the Chinese government and their response to the outbreak than Democrats would be. The data shows that 76% of Republicans held negative views towards Beijing's response, compared with 54% of Democrats who felt the same.
When it comes to mistrust, nearly all Republicans (92%) don't trust coronavirus information coming from Beijing, compared with 78% of Democrats.
Additionally, 62% of Americans believe that China is a major threat to the United States, versus 7% who believe the opposite. Forty-five percent hold no confidence at all that Chinese President Xi Jinping would "do the right thing" regarding international affairs.
As the world confronts the deadly coronavirus pandemic, China has been accused of spreading disinformation and further suppressing basic freedoms.
At the onset of the pandemic, Chinese media outlets were instructed to give the news of the disease a "positive spin," according to various reports.
"Chinese Communist Party officials even barred the World Health Organization from entering the country until mid-February. To this day, the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) has not been asked to assist in investigating the spread and origin of this virus," said Maya Carlin, a security analyst for the Center for Security Policy.
Given the recent rise in tensions between the US and China, the CDC's invitation into the country for investigative purposes seems even more unlikely.
"Chinese Communist Party officials and diplomats have also on occasion spread discredited theories through a network of government-linked social media accounts, while suppressing journalists from reporting truthfully on the matter," Carlin added. "One of the more widely circulated theories claims the virus is an American-made bio-weapon brought to China by US military personnel."
Additionally, there has also been criticism of Beijing's handling of the case of Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old doctor who had tried to raise the alarm over the outbreak of the new virus in Wuhan, later to be reprimanded by the police for "spreading rumors." His death from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, prompted an outpouring of rage and grief across China.
In relation, 57% believe that China's policies on human rights are a serious problem, which can be anything to the suppression of journalist following the initial outbreak to the unlawful detainment of ethnic minorities.
"China currently perpetuates modern-day slavery through its tyrannical detainment of Uighur Muslims in makeshift concentration camps. In the last three years, more than two million ethnic minorities, including Uzbeks and Kazakhs, have been forced into prison-like conditions, where sexual abuse and various forms of torture have been reported," said Carlin. "The UN has repeatedly failed to denounce this blatant abuse of human rights on many levels."
Five leading human-rights groups in late 2019, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, publicly urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to condemn these labor camps.
"According to Human Rights Watch, Chinese officials threatened delegations when its human-rights record was to be routinely reviewed over the last two years," Carlin added. "Concurrently, Chinese diplomats intentionally provided false information to its reviewers and threatened those attempting to attend a panel discussion on Uighurs in Xinjiang.
"Clearly, the UN has been unsuccessful in thwarting off pressure to keep China’s countless atrocities against its own citizens under wraps."
"Instead of punishing the Chinese regime for its intentional misreporting and contribution to the spread of the pandemic, this already discredited UN has disparaged itself further by allowing this tyrannical government to greatly increase its influence in the UN Human Rights Council," Carlin concluded.
Reuters contributed to this report.