More than 58% of Chinese consider relations with Russia a priority of Chinese foreign policy; more and more Chinese citizens are losing faith in relations with the United States due to anti-Russian sanctions in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.
The research center of the Chinese state newspaper Global Times conducted a survey from December 8 to 15 in 16 major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Harbin and others. More than 2,200 people aged 18 to 69 participated.
The survey found that 58 percent of the Chinese consider relations with the Russian Federation a priority in China's foreign policy. China's relations with Europe are in second place (45.9%), followed by Southeast Asia (39.7%).
The rating of the United States has dropped by 5% compared to the same poll of 2021, to 36.8%, and has dropped America to the fourth place. Relations with Africa are ranked fifth, with 19.1% of Chinese residents considering it a priority for the country.
Most Chinese people are losing faith in relations with the United States while looking more and more favorably at ties with Russia, the publication notes.
70% of respondents believe that Washington's image is deteriorating because of Moscow's sanctions and the propaganda launched by the United States and other Western countries after the start of the Ukraine crisis.
Wang Yiwei, head of the Institute of International Relations at the People's University of China, said that Chinese people realized that the crisis in Ukraine was rather a trap set by America and the North Atlantic Alliance, created by them to weaken Russia. In his view, the conflict is really between Russia and the West.