Human rights fears affecting China’s standing globally, Pew survey finds

A protester wears a mask highlighting human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region during the visit of the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, to Berlin in 2020. Photograph: Markus Schreiber/AP

Concerns about China’s policies on human rights have led to negative views towards the world’s most populous nation, a Pew public opinion survey has found.

Negative views of China remain at or near historic highs in many of the 19 countries polled in this year’s survey, which spoke to people in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. The findings are largely consistent with Pew’s previous study in 2020, but with some countries now reporting even more unfavourable views of China.