Taiwan’s status as a semi-recognized state and China’s decades-long territorial claim to the island have been thrust into the spotlight by an increasingly assertive leadership in Beijing in recent years—and especially since the West failed to deter Russia from invading Ukraine this past February.
A study by the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project found 52 percent of U.S. adults believed “other countries should provide help to Taiwan” if China chose to use force against it, The Guardian reported this week. Most Britons (51 percent) and Australians (62 percent) agreed.
Among other nations polled, U.S. treaty ally Japan (55 percent) and Sweden (55 percent) returned the highest public support for assisting Taiwan in a future crisis. Meanwhile, pluralities in favor were found in Germany (43 percent), Poland (40 percent), France (38 percent) and Spain (38 percent), the results showed
Elsewhere, the majority of publics in Kenya (63 percent) and Nigeria (60 percent) also believed Taiwan deserved help, as did 51 percent of adults in India, an increasingly important U.S. partner in the Asia-Pacific region.
Crucially, however, the polling found that sending U.S.-led coalition troops to Taiwan and the provision of heavy weapons were less popular options, said the report. At least four in 10 in the majority of Western countries surveyed backed intelligence support or military advisers for Taipei.
The YouGov-Cambridge’s annual Globalism Survey collected responses from 1,061 adults in all countries between August 24 and September 22.
In terms of U.S. sentiment, its findings were similar to those of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, whose August survey found four in 10 Americans would favor defending Taiwan with U.S. forces.
In the event of an attack by Beijing, most Americans would instead back diplomatic and economic sanctions (76 percent) against China, arms transfers to Taiwan (65 percent), and preventing a Chinese blockade with the U.S. Navy (62 percent).
Consistent with other research, the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Survey found a sharp decline in China’s popularity since 2019, especially among Western publics. In some countries, favorable views were halved.
Observers have attributed the shift to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s hard-line foreign policy and his military modernization efforts, which have also alienated a number of Beijing’s neighbors. More recently, China’s standing has been hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the U.S., only 18 percent of respondents agreed that China had “a positive effect on world affairs,” compared to 27 percent four years earlier, according to The Guardian. The assessment was lowest in Denmark (11.2 percent), the U.K. (11 percent) and Germany (13.4 percent).
Among U.S. allies and partners, large shares of the public now held less positive views in France (16.8 percent), Australia (17.8 percent), Canada (18.8 percent) and India (23.4 percent), the survey showed.
In the Global South, where China’s reputation often outperforms the U.S., its popularity has also suffered since 2019, including among South Africans (61 percent), Mexicans (59.4 percent) and Brazilians (50 percent).
Notably, when given the choice of the U.S. or China to be “the most powerful force in politics,” the vast majority of publics favored America, including in Nigeria (77 vs. 15 percent), India (69 vs. 9 percent), South Africa (roughly 60 vs. 30 percent) and Brazil (59 vs. 11 percent).
