TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A new poll shows that over 80% of Americans have a negative view of China, with 40% viewing China as an enemy of the U.S., while concern about the rising cross-strait tensions has increased to 47%.

The latest survey by the Pew Research Center shows that 83% of Americans continue to hold negative views of China, and the proportion with very unfavorable views has increased by 4 percentage points from last year, reaching 44%. In addition, although 52% of Americans still regard China as a competitor, the number of Americans who consider China an enemy of the U.S. has increased by 13 percentage points compared with last year, reaching 38%.

Although the poll of 3,576 Americans was conducted from March 20 to 26, before President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) visited the U.S. and Central American diplomatic allies and China conducted exercises in the Taiwan Strait, American concerns about tensions in the Taiwan Strait have continued to grow. The center said a record share of Americans at 47% believe tensions in the Taiwan Strait are a very serious problem, a rise of 19% from two years ago.

Respondents also expressed general concern about China's role in the world. Following Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping's (習近平) trip to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 62% of Americans expressed the belief that the Sino-Russia partnership is a very serious problem for the U.S., an increase of 5% from October last year.

Regarding China's behavior in international affairs, about 80% of respondents believe that China is not conducive to world peace and stability, with conservative Republicans at 89% having the highest percentage of those expressing this opinion. Of the respondents, 77% feel that China does not consider the interests of other countries such as the U.S.

Amid such concerns, the American public expressed doubts about the possibility of cooperation with China. On issues such as resolving international conflicts, climate change, and combating the spread of infectious diseases, more than half of the respondents believed that it would be difficult for the U.S. and China to cooperate.

As for Xi's international role, Americans continue to be pessimistic. Of the respondents, 77% expressed no confidence in Xi's ability to handle international affairs correctly, of which 47% expressed "no confidence at all." Another 13% of Americans have never heard of Xi.

While the White House and Congress continue to discuss a possible ban on TikTok, the survey showed that 88% of respondents did not have much confidence in the compliance of Chinese social media companies with privacy policies and regulations and 87% had no confidence that these companies will use their private data "in ways they feel comfortable with."

Although Americans are skeptical about social media companies in general, the survey showed that they have "markedly less trust in Chinese social media companies."