The power struggle between China and the United States was thrust into daylight last week when a Chinese jet intercepted a US naval patrol plane over the South China Sea. After the fact, the US military claimed its plane had been flying routine patrols in international airspace. The Chinese military said the airspace was theirs and that the US needs to stop conducting close surveillance of its territory.
China’s economy is poised to surpass that of the US sometime early in the next decade, and the jet intercept is just the latest signal of a geopolitical shift that’s forced the US to share the world stage with the East Asian superpower.
It makes sense, then, that other nations would choose sides. So who’s the favorite?
We know how Americans feel about China. Only 35 percent have a favorable view. But what about the rest of the world? Using data from the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, we took a look at global opinions. The graphic below shows you the nations that clearly prefer either the US or China. At the bottom and shaded black are the countries that have comparable opinions of the two countries.