Shifting views against the U.S. highlight the importance of cooperation

Note: The following article is taken from the Chinese-language "Commentaries on International Affairs".

The latest opinion poll by Gallup shows that the global approval rating of China's leadership stands at 34 percent, slightly ahead of the United States at 31 percent. The poll, which asks respondents for their views on China, the United States, Russia, and Germany, is conducted in 134 countries and regions. The report from Gallup says that China's standing as a world leader exceeds that of the United States in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Screenshot of Gallup report on world leadership rating. [Photo: China Plus]

This is the second time that China's approval rating has surpassed that of the United States since the 2008 international financial crisis, which was triggered by America's subprime mortgage crisis. It was during that year when, after 30 years of reform and opening up, China became a powerful driving force to save the global economy and promote economic growth. This helps to explain why China's global influence surpassed that of the United States for the first time in that year's Gallup poll.

In the decade following the crisis, the world economy gradually recovered and began to show a slow but fairly stable trend towards growth. But some of the festering social problems that have plagued Western society, such as the polarization between the rich and the poor, have fueled a rise in xenophobia and populism.

In the United States, President Trump has led the charge in implementing a policy of "America First", which has seen his country pulling out of a number of international agreements and organizations. In Britain, the country and the parliament remain deeply divided about what Brexit is and how it can be achieved. The "Yellow vest" protests set France alight before spreading to other European countries. And in North Africa and the Middle East, people have hiked through baking deserts and entrusted their fate to shaky boats in desperate attempts to escape with their lives from civil war and strife.

Amidst this turmoil, people in search of a model of development that suits their national conditions are turning their eyes to China. In recent years, China has adhered to a development philosophy that is innovative, sustainable, and open. As many as 123 countries and 29 international organizations have signed cooperation agreements with China for the Belt and Road Initiative, which has become a popular global development project. Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently spoke about the initiative's achievements. East Africa now has its first expressway, and the Maldives its first cross-sea bridge. Belarus has developed its own car manufacturing industry. In Kenya, the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway has created nearly 50,000 local jobs and raised the country's rate of economic growth by 1.5 percentage points.

Median global approval of China's leadership compared with the U.S. [Photo: CGTN]

A report last year by the Brookings Institution, a leading think tank in the United States, found that China's investment in development projects can pave the way for inclusive global growth. The report cited a survey of 4,300 projects in 138 countries with investment from China. It found that these projects had yielded a significant economic growth dividend for the host countries. Looking down from space at the spread of nighttime lighting, these scholars believe that the prosperity from these projects is radiating into surrounding areas.

The rapid expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative, based as it is on the principles of cooperation and mutual benefit, shows that China's model of global governance has been widely welcomed by the international community. Jon Clifton, the global managing partner at Gallup, opened the report on the recent poll by saying "If hard power is a country's economic and military strength, then soft power is a country's intangible power — the power that makes people want to go along with you because they want to, not because they have to." The declining faith in the United States as a world leader, despite its economic clout and military might, should perhaps give people pause to reconsider going down the path of triumphant isolationism.