Anti–People's Republic of China sentiment (),C Wu (2020). Nationalism and Social Order in Public "Two keywords highlight attacks to the Chinese nation: anti-PRC (反中) and anti-China (反华)." also known as anti-China (), anti-PRC (), anti-CCP, or anti-Beijing sentiment, is antipathy to the People's Republic of China (PRC). "Anti-PRC" is different from "anti-Chinese sentiment" in cultural and ethnic contexts, but they sometimes appear at the same time and are described as "Sinophobia".Macmillan dictionary. Retrieved July 7, 2022.The Free Dictionary By Farlex. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
Reasons cited for opposing the People's Republic of China include the policies of its government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the suppression of democracy in China, human rights abuses, intelligence activities, diplomatic practices, threats to dissidents, oppression of secessionist movements, as well as negative impressions of its nationals.
Concerns over the increasing economic and military power of China, its technological prowess and cultural reach, as well as international influence, has been attributed to drive negative media coverage of China. This is often also exhibited by policymakers and politicians.
Statistics and background
Results of 2026 Pew Research Center poll "% who have a(n) favorable/unfavorable opinion of China"(default-sorted by decreasing negativity of each country) Country polled Favorable Unfavorable Difference -77 -54 -44 -44 -43 -36 -31 -31 -25 -22 -17 -7 -7 -6 -2 +5 +6 +13 +13 +14 +15 +18 +23 +23 +30 +31 +35 +35 +39 +40 +44 +46 +50 +62 +56 +61 +83 In 2026, Pew Research Center from the United States conducted a survey on feelings on China, finding that China was viewed favorably in the majority (22 of 37) of the nations surveyed. Across the surveyed countries, a median of 51% held a favorable view of China, while 39% held an unfavorable view.
Anti-China sentiment Anti-China sentiment has been clearly evident in the West and other Asian countries. In the 2013 Pew Research survey, only 28% of Germans and Italians and 37% of Americans viewed China favorably while in Japan, just 5% of respondents had a favorable opinion of the country. 11 of the 38 nations viewed China unfavorably by more than 50%. Japan was polled to have the most anti-China sentiment, where 93% saw the People's Republic in a negative light. There were also majorities in Germany (64%), Italy (62%), and Israel (60%) who held negative views of China. Germany saw a large increase of anti-China sentiment, from 33% disfavor in 2006 to 64% in the 2013 survey, with such views existing despite Germany's success in exporting to China.Chapter 3. Attitudes toward China - Pew Global Attitudes. Posted on July 18, 2013. Anti-PRC rhetoric in English-speaking countries tends to flow from security agencies to governments to the media.
Positive views of China Respondents in the Balkans have held generally positive views of China, according to 2020 polling. An International Republican Institute survey from February to March found that only in Kosovo (75%) did most respondents express an unfavourable opinion of the country, while majorities in Serbia (85%), Montenegro (68%), North Macedonia (56%), and Bosnia (52%) expressed favourable views. A GLOBSEC poll on October found that the highest percentage of those who saw China as a threat were in the Czech Republic (51%), Poland (34%), and Hungary (24%), while it was seen as least threatening in Balkan countries such as Bulgaria (3%), Serbia (13%), and North Macedonia (14%). Reasons for threat perception were generally linked to the country's economic influence.
According to Arab Barometer polls, views of China in the Arab world have been relatively positive, with data from March to April 2021 showing that most respondents in Algeria (65%), Morocco (62%), Libya (60%), Tunisia (59%), and Iraq (56%) held favourable views of the country while views were less favourable in Lebanon (38%) and Jordan (34%).
Impact of COVID pandemic
Global polling in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic reported a decrease in favourable views of China, with an Ipsos poll done in November finding those in Russia (81%), Mexico (72%), Malaysia (68%), Peru (67%) and Saudi Arabia (65%) were most likely to believe China's future influence would be positive, while those in Great Britain (19%), Canada (21%), Germany (24%), Australia (24%), Japan (24%), the United States (24%) and France (24%) were least likely. A YouGov poll on August found that those in Nigeria (70%), Thailand (64%), Mexico (61%), and Egypt (55%) had more positive views of China regarding world affairs while those in Japan (7%), Denmark (13%), Britain (13%), Sweden (14%), and other Western countries had the least positive views.
History Mao era and Cold War In 1949, when the Second Chinese Civil War was terminated and the People's Republic of China (PRC) was established in mainland China, the existing Republic of China (ROC) retreated to Taiwan. However, in the early Cold War, the PRC was not recognized by many Western countries and was often referred to as "Red China", with the ROC being called "Free China". Until 1971, according to the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (which consisted of the ROC, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States), 'China' was the ROC controlling Taiwan, not the PRC controlling mainland China. At the time, the Republic of China and its Western allies openly opposed the PRC, asserting that the ROC was the only legitimate 'China'.
During the Cold War, anti-Chinese sentiment became a permanent fixture in the media of the Western world and anti-communist countries following the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. From the 1950s to the 1980s, anti-Chinese sentiment was high in South Korea as a result of the Chinese intervention against the South Korean army in the Korean War (1950–1953).
In the Soviet Union, anti-Chinese sentiment became high following the hostile political relations between the PRC and the USSR from the late 1950s onward, which nearly escalated into war between the two countries in 1969. The "Chinese threat", as it was described in a letter by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, prompted expressions of anti-Chinese sentiment in the Russian dissident samizdat movement.
"Anti-CCP" can be used in a similar sense to "anti-PRC" due to the country being a one-party state.
After the reform and opening up
As the People's Republic of China's external power grows under sustained economic growth, the surrounding countries have become more concerned about the external expansion of the People's Republic of China through state capitalism, and its long-term tendency towards hegemony and neo-imperialism, with its nationalistic sentiments and territorial disputes with neighboring countries, which has led to the emergence of Chinese threat theories within each country. For example, the Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan reflects the anxiety of Taiwanese young people in Taiwan about the threat of China, especially the influence of China on Taiwan's internal democratic development through its political and economic power. 2012, when Tsai Ing-wen, chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of Taiwan, and Wang Dan, an exiled dissident from China, had a conversation, Tsai Ing-wen suggested that the DPP was not against China, but against the hegemony and undemocratic nature of the People's Republic of China. Andrew Chubb traces a shift in rhetoric surrounding China in Australia, which he refers to as the securitization of Chinese influence, to the political campaign of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The use of anti-PRC rhetoric by the Turnbull campaign had the end-impact of creating a "a 'toxic environment' for Chinese-Australians, especially in public and political life" and worsened relations between Australia and China. Chubb notes that this trend of securitzation of discourse, flowing from intelligence agencies to politicians to the media is replicated in other English-speaking Liberal democracies.
Definition and interpretation of anti–PRC sentiment Opposition to the People's Republic of China does not necessarily equate to opposition to or disapproval of the Chinese people or culture, but "anti-PRC" is often equated with "anti-Chinese" because the government of the People's Republic of China is considered by most countries in the international arena to be the sole legitimate government of China and the sole representative of the Chinese people in China. The PRC government equates its counter-discussion of its regime or policies with "anti-Chinese" (反華), which means total rejection and opposition to China, its Chinese people or culture. In Hong Kong, for example, pro-Communists have launched a website called Against the pan-Democrats, for the sake of Hong Kong (反泛民，救香港), which categorizes pan-Democrats as anti-Chinese "Hanjian scum" (漢奸人渣) and "anti-China and stirring up trouble in Hong Kong" (反中亂港).
In The Third Chinese Imagination: The Chinese Factor and Democracy in Taiwan (第三種中國想像：中國因素與台灣民主), published by Wu Jiemin (吳介民), an associate researcher at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, it was argued that the People's Republic of China (PRC) factor threatened the development of Taiwanese democracy. However, he advocated treating the government of the People's Republic of China and the mainland Chinese people separately, and believed that a third way should be established between the two directions of pro-PRC and anti-PRC. He hoped that Taiwan would have positive interactions with democrats and civic organizations in mainland China, and would not only focus on the government of the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party. Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Frank Hsieh was interviewed by China Times on January 14, 2014; he believes that although Taiwan is opposed to being ruled by the PRC government, this sentiment should not be extended to the Chinese people, and should not be negative towards spouses or students from mainland China who come to Taiwan to study and survive. Lin Yi-hsiung, also the former chairman of the DPP, advocated that Taiwan should develop positive interactions with the People's Republic of China and refrain from engaging in international political confrontation, a view supported by the celebrity Dong Zhisen.何榮幸 (2005-05-28). "林義雄：推動公投 解決統獨問題" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 中國時報.
By region
Greater China
Hong Kong
After the victory of the Chinese Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War, some anti-Communist Mainlanders moved southward to Hong Kong to establish their roots, including members of the Kuomintang, intellectuals and capitalists. Tens of thousands moved to Hong Kong in 1949 to escape the Chinese Communist Revolution. The population of Hong Kong increased from 1.8 million in 1947 to 2.2 million in 1951. As mainland Chinese fled to Hong Kong over the next 30 years, the population of Hong Kong increased by 1 million every 10 years. Those who experienced hunger and political struggle under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) internalized stronger anti-communist sentiments than Hong Kongers who did not experience CCP rule.
Although Hong Kong's sovereignty was returned to China in 1997, only a small minority of its inhabitants consider themselves to be exclusively Chinese. According to a 2014 survey from the University of Hong Kong, 42.3% of respondents identified themselves as "Hong Kong citizens", versus only 17.8% who identified themselves as "Chinese citizens", and 39.3% gave themselves a mixed identity (a Hong Kong Chinese or a Hong Konger who was living in China). By 2019, almost no Hong Kong youth identified as Chinese.