Description

The Chinese Citizens' Global Perception Survey (CCGPS) is a statistically representative national survey, conducted in three waves (2023, 2024, 2025), looking at how the Chinese general public think about China's current relations with global actors and their relationship with China. Global actors covered in the survey include: Australia, Canada, EU, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, UK and USA. 

Key Findings

• Chinese citizens perceive China as the most influential international actor, closely followed by USA. The EU is seen as significantly more influential than individual European nations such as France and Germany.

• Russia remains China’s most trusted global partner, but trust in Moscow declined slightly from 2024 to 2025. Japan and the U.S. continue to rank as the least trusted nations, reflecting persistent historical and geopolitical tensions. The EU is seen as more important to China’s future than Germany and France individually.

• Higher levels of knowledge of a jurisdiction correlate with higher trust in that jurisdiction. This trend holds except for the U.S., where increased knowledge does not necessarily translate to greater trust.

• Respondents view USA as the actor most likely to engage in a military conflict with China in the next decade. This view does not extend to USA-allied nations such as Australia, Canada and the UK.

• Citizens expresses a positive preference for expanding global economic cooperation, and technology/research collaboration. This is notably the case with Russia by a widespread consensus. 

• Despite rising geopolitical tensions, Western nations remain popular destinations for tourism, study and emigration. In 2025, the U.S. emerged as the top preference for studying abroad, overtaking the United Kingdom which held the position in 2024.

• The Chinese public wants China to play a more active role in resolving conflicts around the world, including the Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Palestine conflicts. This can have notable implications for international affairs if Chinese strategies vary from Western-led approaches.

• Reunification with Taiwan is overwhelmingly preferred through diplomatic means, though support for peaceful resolution declines if the U.S. is involved.

• There is a greater reliance on social media than traditional, state-controlled media (TV, radio, and newspapers) to learn about global jurisdictions. This raises notable analytical questions about the ability of the Chinese state to directly influence and shape citizens' perceptions about foreign actors and behaviour.