HKU POP SITE today releases latest survey findings of WorldPublicOpinion.org – on public opinion on US Foreign Policy and Barack ObamaBack

WouldPublicOpinion.org (or WPO) interviewed 19,914 people in 23 regions worldwide between April 4 and June 12, 2009. The survey finds that around the world US foreign policy continues to receive heavy criticism on a variety of fronts, even though in 13 of 19 nations most people say they have confidence in President Obama to do the right thing in international affairs. Stephen J. Weber of WorldPublicOpinion.org observes, "Most people around the world seem to have a positive view of the young new captain at the helm of the American ship of state, though many people see this huge ship as still carrying forward domineering policies." Invited commentator from Hong Kong Dr John Chuan-Tiong Lim observes, "Since Barack Obama entered the White House this year, international society as a whole has positive expectations on him. America's international reputation may be able to regain its lost grounds. Such positive atmosphere is also reflected in the results of this global survey, including the Greater China Region." The margins of error of WPO surveys conducted around the world are controlled to the range of +/-3 to 4 percentage points.

Points to note:

* The Chinese website of "WorldPublicOpinion.org" is located at http://wpo.hkpop.hk and its English website is located at http://worldpublicopinion.org.
* Since there are sampling errors in the survey, the figures cannot be too accurate. When quoting percentages, journalists should refrain from reporting decimal places.

POP today releases on schedule via the "HKU POP SITE" (http://hkupop.pori.hk) and "World Opinion Platform" (http://wpo.hkpop.hk) the latest figures of WouldPublicOpinion.org, which reflect people's opinions towards US foreign policy and Barack Obama. Herewith the contact information for the latest survey:

Date of survey	Overall sample size	Margin of error
Varies on 4/4-12/6/2009	19,914	Less than +/-4% in each region

Herewith the results of people in Greater China Region (GCR) and countries well-known to Hong Kong people. The theme is people's opinions towards US foreign policy and Barack Obama. For other figures and contact information, please refer to "World Opinion Platform": *

Date of survey	4/4-12/6/2009
Sample base	Ranges from 500-1,357
Q1-CE1b. Please tell me if you think the United States is playing a mainly positive or mainly negative role in the world.	Mainly positive		Mainly negative	Depends	Neither	Don't know／no response	Total
Greater China Region average	45%		29%	7%	6%	12%	100%
Hong Kong	-		-	-	-	-	-
Macau	42%		32%	6%	8%	12%	100%
Mainland	32%		41%	11%	4%	13%	100%
Taiwan	61%		15%	5%	7%	12%	100%
United States of America	80%		18%	0%	0%	2%	100%
Britain	58%		34%	3%	3%	2%	100%
France	52%		35%	7%	4%	3%	100%
South Korea	68%		29%	2%	1%	0%	100%
Germany	44%		34%	6%	15%	2%	100%
World average	42%		38%	10%	4%	6%	100%

Q2-CE2b. Please tell me if you approve or disapprove of how the United States is dealing with the issue of climate change?	Approve	Disapprove	Don't know／no response	Total
Greater China Region average	34%	32%	34%	100%
Hong Kong	-	-	-	-
Macau	32%	34%	34%	100%
Mainland	21%	41%	38%	100%
Taiwan	49%	21%	30%	100%
United States of America	45%	47%	8%	100%
Britain	26%	65%	9%	100%
France	27%	62%	12%	100%
South Korea	67%	30%	3%	100%
Germany	25%	56%	18%	100%
World average	39%	40%	21%	100%

Q3-CE3b. Please tell me if you think the United States is or is not generally respectful of human rights.	Is	Is not	Don't know／no response	Total
Greater China Region average	59%	21%	20%	100%
Hong Kong	-	-	-	-
Macau	49%	25%	26%	100%
Mainland	45%	31%	25%	100%
Taiwan	82%	8%	10%	100%
United States of America	87%	13%	1%	100%
Britain	62%	31%	8%	100%
France	52%	37%	11%	100%
South Korea	82%	16%	2%	100%
Germany	42%	40%	17%	100%
World average	54%	35%	11%	100%

Q4-CE4b. Please tell me if you think the United States is or is not generally cooperative with other countries.	Is	Is not	Don't know／no response	Total
Greater China Region average	62%	19%	19%	100%
Hong Kong	-	-	-	-
Macau	60%	18%	21%	100%
Mainland	51%	29%	20%	100%
Taiwan	74%	11%	15%	100%
United States of America	87%	12%	1%	100%
Britain	62%	30%	9%	100%
France	58%	31%	11%	100%
South Korea	63%	34%	3%	100%
Germany	54%	27%	19%	100%
World average	61%	27%	12%	100%

Q5-CE5b. Please tell me if you think the United States does or does not use the threat of military force to gain advantages.	Does	Does not	Don't know／no response	Total
Greater China Region average	79%	10%	12%	100%
Hong Kong	-	-	-	-
Macau	76%	11%	14%	100%
Mainland	84%	4%	13%	100%
Taiwan	76%	15%	9%	100%
United States of America	71%	26%	2%	100%
Britain	83%	12%	5%	100%
France	72%	22%	7%	100%
South Korea	92%	7%	1%	100%
Germany	66%	19%	15%	100%
World average	77%	15%	8%	100%

Q6-CE6a. Tell me how much confidence you have in US President Barack Obama to do the right thing regarding world affairs—a lot of confidence, some confidence, not too much confidence, or no confidence at all.				A lot of confidence	Some confidence		Not too much confidence	No confidence at all		Depends／Don't know	Total
Greater China Region average				27%	50%		12%	3%		9%	100%
Hong Kong				28%	61%		9%	1%		2%	100%
Macau				46%	34%		9%	5%		5%	100%
Mainland				10%	45%		19%	6%		20%	100%
Taiwan				22%	59%		10%	1%		8%	100%
United States of America				38%	32%		16%	13%		1%	100%
Britain				47%	46%		4%	2%		2%	100%
France				21%	67%		8%	2%		3%	100%
South Korea				21%	67%		11%	1%		1%	100%
Germany				47%	42%		8%	2%		2%	100%
World average				26%	39%		18%	11%		7%	100%

Q7-US1. Which of these two views is closer to yours?	The US tries to promote international laws for other countries, but is hypocritical because it often does not follow these rules itself.	The US has been an important leader in promoting international laws, and sets a good example by following them.	Don't know／no response	Total
Greater China Region average	67%	20%	14%	100%
Hong Kong	71%	19%	10%	100%
Macau	63%	22%	15%	100%
Mainland	75%	12%	14%	100%
Taiwan	57%	28%	16%	100%
United States of America	40%	56%	4%	100%
Britain	74%	19%	8%	100%
France	79%	15%	6%	100%
South Korea	75%	23%	2%	100%
Germany	67%	19%	13%	100%
World average	66%	25%	10%	100%

Q8-US2. In our government's relations with the US, do you think the US more often treats us fairly, OR abuses its greater power to make us do what the US wants?	Treats us fairly	Abuses its greater power	Don't know／no response	Total
Greater China Region average	20%	68%	12%	100%
Hong Kong	18%	73%	8%	100%
Macau	31%	52%	17%	100%
Mainland	14%	76%	10%	100%
Taiwan	18%	72%	11%	100%
United States of America	-	-	-	-
Britain	27%	68%	5%	100%
France	26%	68%	6%	100%
South Korea	17%	81%	2%	100%
Germany	48%	42%	10%	100%
World average	26%	66%	9%	100%

* Except Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland and Taiwan, the other regions are those best known to Hong Kong people. According to the survey conducted by POP on May 5 to 7, 2009, the 10 regions best known to Hong Kong people are the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France, Australia, Canada, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea and Germany. Among these regions, the United States, United Kingdom, France, South Korea and Germany participated in this current survey. For details of survey on people's best known regions, please refer to the press release on May 19, 2009 at the "HKU POP SITE". The figures for Greater China Region are calculated based on the survey results of Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland and Taiwan. Different from the calculation of WPO, the findings of these four regions are included in figures for world average.

Results of the latest survey showed that, 45% of the publics in GCR thought the US was mainly playing a positive role in the world while 29% thought it was mainly playing a negative role. The respective percentages of the publics in GCR who "approved the way the US was dealing with the issue of climate change", thought "the US was generally respectful of human rights", "the US is generally cooperative with other countries" and "the US uses the threat of military force to gain advantages" were 34%, 59%, 62% and 79%. Besides, publics in GCR generally had confidence in Obama to do the right thing regarding world affairs, with an integrated percentage of 77%. As for other opinions, publics in GCR generally thought the US "tried to promote international laws for other countries, but was hypocritical because it often did not follow these rules itself" and "abused its greater power to make us do what it wanted", with a respective percentage of 67% and 68%.

Invited commentator from Hong Kong Dr John Chuan-Tiong Lim, Fulbright Scholar at Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies of Harvard University (email address: <[email protected]>), analyzes the survey results as follows:

America's position as the world's number one super power was consolidated because of USSR's breakdown after the Cold War, but her interference into the ex-Yugoslavia issue from the early 1990s has earned her the ironic name of "the World Police". When she started the Iraq wars, her aggression was branded as "unilateralism". For more than a decade, America's reputation has been declining in the international society.

However, since Barack Obama entered the White House this year, international society as a whole has positive expectations on him. America's international reputation may be able to regain its lost grounds. Such positive atmosphere is also reflected in the results of this global survey, including the Greater China Region.

For the surveys conducted in Mainland China and Taiwan, it should be noted that: although the two societies shared similar views on how America treats other countries and their trust towards Barack Obama, there are obvious discrepancies in their overall impression and knowledge of America.

When asked "is the United States playing a mainly positive or mainly negative role in the world", 32% of interviewees in Mainland China said America's role is "mainly positive", whereas 41% answered "mainly negative". The response has been completely opposite in Taiwan: 61% of the respondents there said America's role is "mainly positive" whereas only 15% answered "mainly negative". Similar response is also found in the question of whether people approved of America's way of dealing with climate change. For the question of whether America generally respects human rights, the approval rates between Mainland China and Taiwan have a discrepancy as high as 37%.

In light of the different backgrounds of peoples in Mainland China and Taiwan, the commentator thought there were three points worth noting in explaining their diversed views towards America.

First is the US relationship with the two societies. Although the US abandoned Taiwan and established diplomacy with Mainland China in 1978, it is still the most important partner of Taiwan under the framework of "Taiwan Relations Act". On the other hand, the Sino-American relations have flunctuated over the past 30 years due to the effects of Cold War mindset and values.

Next is the different perceptions of "freedom" and "democracy" in the two societies. Even though people of Taiwan sometimes disagree with US foreign policies, they highly recognize the values of freedom and democracy embedded in the American value, especially when Taiwan moved towards democracy in the 1990s. On the other hand, Mainland China has not yet shown any clear affirmation towards freedom and democracy.

Finally is the influence of nationalism. After baptized by democratic development, the Taiwan society has calmer reflections towards nationalism. In contrast, over the past 30 years, especially with the emergence of nationalism after the June 4 Incident, America remains to be Mainland China's number one "imagined enemy", who criticizes her a lot.

Stephen J. Weber of WorldPublicOpinion.org observes, "Most people around the world seem to have a positive view of the young new captain at the helm of the American ship of state, though many people see this huge ship as still carrying forward domineering policies." (For details please go to the website of WPO at http://www.worldpublicopinion.org.)

WorldPublicOpinion.org (WPO) was initiated and managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, USA. At present WPO consists of research centers from over 20 countries or regions including Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland and Taiwan (together called Greater China Region).

Apart from conducting the Hong Kong part of WPO survey, the Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong is also responsible for designing and maintaining the Chinese homepage of the WPO at http://wpo.hkpop.hk, which can be accessed via the HKU POP Site at http://hkupop.pori.hk. Besides, POP is also responsible for coordinating the polls in the Greater China Region, and will follow the rhythm of the WorldPublicOpinion.org (WPO) to globally release the Chinese versions of WPO's press releases regularly. We welcome questions for follow-up purpose, please email them to us at <[email protected]>.