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 as a whole is seen as almost four times more influential than France and Germany respectively.

• Russia is considered to be the most trusted and important nation to China's long-term future. Japan and the USA are perceived to be the least trustworthy. The EU as a conglomerate is seen as having greater importance to China’s future in the next decade, more than two times Germany and France individually.

• Higher levels of knowledge of a jurisdiction generally correlated with higher levels of trust in said jurisdiction. This is a trend that holds true for all jurisdictions, except for USA.

• 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 strained relations with China in the 2020s, Western jurisdictions remain popular destinations for studying abroad and outward tourism.

• 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.

• The citizenry overwhelming wants a reunification with Taiwan resolved through diplomatic means rather than a military one. However, if USA is involved in this process they would be substantially less supportive.

• 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.