EXCLUSIVE: The number of Americans who view China as an “enemy” of the U.S. is growing, while a majority support a buildup of American military personnel to deter a potential invasion of Taiwan, the annual Regan Defense Forum Survey has found.
According to the survey, 77% of Americans view China as an enemy while just 15% view the nation as an ally. That number is a drastic change from 2018, when the survey found 38% of Americans viewed China as an ally, and 55% as an enemy.
A majority of Americans (51%) also view China as the greatest threat facing the nation, up from 43% last year and 21% in 2018. Meanwhile, the number of those viewing Russia as the greatest threat is falling, with just 24% viewing the nation as such, down from 31% last year following its invasion of Ukraine.
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The survey also found that a strong majority of Americans (58%) support the security pact between the U.S., U.K. and Australia, known as AUKUS, to counter growing Chinese power across the globe. Just 22% said they opposed the defense technology sharing agreement, and 20% said they didn’t know.
When asked what concerned them most about China, 20% said its military buildup while another 20% said its human rights abuses, such as the mistreatment of China’s Uyghur minority population. Another 17% said China’s foreign policy concerned them most, 15% were most worried about China’s economic practices and 10% pointed to the threat against Taiwan.
Regarding Taiwan — which the U.S. government does not recognize as an independent nation under its “One China” policy — 72% said they would support officially recognizing Taiwan if China were to invade. Just 15% would oppose such action.
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A plurality of 46% said they would support committing American ground troops to defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion, with 35% saying they would oppose such a move.
To deter an invasion, however, 60% said they would support increasing the U.S. military presence near Taiwan, with just 25% opposed. Additionally, 55% said they would support increasing arms sales to Taiwan as a deterrent, with 28% opposed.
A majority of 65% felt the U.S. government’s focus on Ukraine was distracting policymakers from the threat posed by China.
In terms of the military capabilities of China compared to that of the U.S., 34% said America was superior and 28% said China. 30% said they were equal.
A plurality also gave the U.S. the advantage when it came to economic strength (34%-28%) and diplomatic influence across the world (44%-15%), but China held the advantage concerning cyber capabilities (33%-24%) and artificial intelligence (29%-26%).
The results come as part of the survey’s 6th year and 10th Reagan National Defense Forum. It included the participation of 2,506 U.S. adults surveyed from Oct. 27 to Nov. 5.
