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Since the end of the Cold War, China has perceived the United States to be the sole global superpower and managed to avoid serious conflicts around America’s global interests. Because China was well aware of the considerable gap between itself and America in terms of power and global influence, the Chinese government adopted a low-profile foreign policy that Deng Xiaoping described as “hide your capacities and bide your time.” However, China has begun to reassess its relations with the United States against the backdrop of China’s meteoric rise both in power and in influence. While American diplomats and scholars debate whether China’s rise is good news for US interests or represents a looming threat, their Chinese counterparts have had their own debate about the capabilities and intentions of the United States, that is, whether America is actually in decline (in terms of both its political vitality and economic dynamism) and whether the United States intends to use its power to help or hurt China. In particular, the events after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and more recently the 2008 global financial crisis, have raised further doubts in China as many perceive the United States as a weakened nation bogged down in foreign wars and hurting from the financial crisis.

At the same time, China’s views of the United States have been framed by the broader Chinese perspective of China’s place in the current international system which is propped up by American power and leadership. While some Chinese scholars speculate about whether unipolarity would soon be replaced by multipolarity, others seem convinced that the United States is a revisionist power that seeks to curtail China’s global influence and harm China’s interests.⁵² As China views the United States with more skepticism and vigilance, Chinese perceptions of the United States are increasingly shaped by China’s acute sense of its own vulnerabilities in the bilateral relationship. To begin with, China worries that its political and domestic stability might be undermined by American influence, such as the so-called “peaceful evolution.” Second, China feels vulnerable because its territorial integrity is constantly challenged by the United States and its alliances. For example, tensions have been rising between China and its Asian neighbors over the South China Sea and Diaoyu Island. In other words, China feels insecure about its power and position in the Asia-Pacific, where American interests and influence are firmly entrenched.

It is important to remember that Chinese perceptions of America have always been a mixture of threat and opportunity. To the extent that China has benefited from joining the US-led liberal international system, Chinese policymakers are sometimes more impressed by American policies and behaviors that they perceive as less benevolent. On the other hand, although China’s reforms and opening-up have incorporated certain features of state capitalism, the Chinese view of the United States is still largely informed by traditional Marxist political thought, which posits that capitalist Western powers, the United States being their leader, seeks to exploit the rest of the world for resources and profits. Meanwhile, China’s views of the United States are also influenced by so-called offensive-realist thinking in international relations, which posits that the United States as the dominant power in the system will inevitably be alarmed by the existence of a rising power such as China and accordingly take actions to curtail China’s growing influence. Whether they see the United States through Marxist or realist lens, most Chinese strategists assume that a country as powerful as the United States will necessarily use its influence to preserve and enhance its privilege while fending off threats to its own security and interests from other powers. Such pessimistic views have led many Chinese to believe that the United States will inevitably resist China’s rise. Consequently, Chinese perceptions of the United States have become more negative, as a conflict between the two nations seems unavoidable.

According to a 2016 Pew Research survey about Chinese perceptions of the United States, only 44 percent of the Chinese public gave the United States a positive rating, in stark contrast with the global median of 69 percent.⁵³ Another Pew Research poll shows that 52 percent of the Chinese respondents think the United States is trying to prevent China from becoming an equal power, while only 29 percent believe the United States is willing to accept China’s rise. The Chinese public names US power and influence as the top international threat facing their country.⁵⁴ It seems that as more Chinese accept the notion that a declining America is trying to contain a rising China, Chinese views of the United States are becoming more critical and unfavorable.

In conclusion, two aspects of Chinese views of the United States deserve special attention. First, China’s strategic distrust of America has always been a major component of Chinese perceptions of the United States. Currently, the distrust is most visible in two dimensions, that is, China’s fear of American intervention in China’s domestic affairs, and its suspicion of American intentions to contain China’s national rejuvenation.⁵⁵ Second, in relation to strategic distrust, the Chinese government has always been on guard against the “American democratic system” and its promotion in China, although there appear to be different views and mixed sentiments about American democracy among the Chinese public. For decades, there have been two almost incompatible perceptions of American democracy in China. For the partyline conservatives, American democracy is condemned as a flawed political system corrupted by money and special interests, in which the people had no real vote. In contrast to this government-sanctioned narrative about America, some liberal-minded Chinese tend to promote American democracy as an ideal form of representative democracy in which the people can determine their own fate by electing their own leaders. When the Chinese students protesting on Tiananmen Square unveiled the Goddess of Democracy in 1989 as a symbol of their movement, that was perhaps the best expression of Chinese admiration for the ideals of American democracy, if not the peak of Chinese’s positive perceptions of the American political values.

The competition between these two different narratives of American democracy also reveals China’s differentiated perceptions towards the United States, that is, various segments of the Chinese people tend to hold different views of America. For example, the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted a survey of the views of various segments of the Chinese public about the United States in 2004, and they found great variations among Chinese views of the United States.⁵⁶ In terms of Chinese views of American political system, the Chinese intellectual community had the highest percentage among those who believed that American democracy has universal significance and deserves serious study, while Chinese journalists showed the highest percentage of opposition against American democracy as a universal political model. However, if similar surveys were conducted during the 2016 election, it is safe to assume that the favorability ratings would have dropped among almost all segments of the Chinese people.