Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET), the leading financial daily in Hong Kong, recently reported on a new Reuters-Ipsos poll of U.S. residents showing that about two-thirds of respondents support increased tariffs on Chinese goods. A similar proportion of respondents agreed that Washington should do more to deal with the military threat posed to the U.S. by China.
About half of respondents supported providing military equipment to Taiwan, but only 38 percent supported sending U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to uses force against Taiwan. In terms of U.S.-China relations, 75 percent of respondents held a negative view of China, and about 65 percent believe that the Chinese government is trying to influence the upcoming 2024 U.S. election.
The Reuters-Ipsos poll gathered opinions from more than 1,000 adults across the U.S., including 443 Democrats and 346 Republicans.
Bipartisan concern over relations with China may explain Republican presidential candidates’ increasingly hardline stance on the topic. Many candidates have called for the U.S. to terminate normal trade relations with China. Although President Biden has sought to stabilize the embittered U.S.-China rivalry through high-level diplomatic visits, he has also called the Chinese economy a “time bomb” and has criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping by name at several recent fundraisers.
Source: HKET, August 16, 2023
https://china.hket.com/article/3593364