The Nexus Between China’s Global Image and Attitudes Toward Diasporic Chinese: A Comparison of Australia and the United States

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic intensified unfavorable international news coverage of the Chinese Government with consequences for the Chinese diaspora broadly. To understand these relationships, we conducted surveys in Australia and the United States from 8 to 21 June 2021. Using a survey experiment, we find a significant negative impact of the Chinese Government’s early handling of COVID-19 on public sentiment toward the Chinese Government in Australia but not in the United States. In both countries, expressing unfriendly feelings toward the Chinese Government tends to harm Chinese temporary residents more (compared to permanent residents). The associations between attitudes toward the Chinese Government and diasporic Chinese differ significantly across demographic groups but overall, holding cold attitudes toward the Chinese Government has stronger negative implications for diasporic Chinese in Australia.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Yu Xie and Yongai Jin, ‘Global Attitudes toward China: Trends and Correlates’, Journal of Contemporary China, (2021), DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2021.1926088.

² Suisheng Zhao, ‘Rhetoric and Reality of China’s Global Leadership in the Context of COVID-19: Implications for the US-led World Order and Liberal Globalization’, Journal of Contemporary China, 30(128), (2021), pp. 233–248.

³ Saira Yamin, “People-to-People Diplomacy”, The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace, ed. Nigel J. Young, (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010). ‘Strengthening US-China Relations, One Student at a Time’, accessed 14 December, 2021.

⁴ ‘China Country Brief’, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia), accessed December 14, 2021, https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/china/china-country-brief. ‘以史鉴今，面向未来，把握中美关系正确方向——纪念中美“乒乓外交”50周年 [Drawing on History and Looking to the Future to Advance China-U.S. Relations Along the Right Track—In Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of China-U.S. Ping-Pong Diplomacy]’, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America, last modified April 29, 2021, https://www.mfa.gov.cn/ce/ceus//chn/zmgx/t1872393.htm.

⁵ ‘Covid-19 Fueling Anti-Asian Racism and Xenophobia Worldwide: National Action Plans Needed to Counter Intolerance’, Human Rights Watch, May 12, 2020, accessed October 19, 2021, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/12/covid-19-fueling-anti-asian-racism-and-xenophobia-worldwide.

⁶ David Nakamura, ‘Beyond the Pandemic, Asian American Leaders Fear U.S. Conflict with China Will Fan Racist Backlash’, Washington Post, March 17, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/biden-china-asian-american-racism/2021/03/17/69eb4bc6-873d-11eb-82bc-e58213caa38e_story.html. Tim Soutphommasane, ‘COVID-19 is Playing Host to Another Contagion: Anti-Asian Racism’, The Sydney Morning Herald, April 11, 2020, https://www.smh.com.au/national/covid-19-is-playing-host-to-another-contagion-anti-asian-racism-20200409-p54irl.html.

⁷ Hong Liu, ‘An Emerging China and Diasporic Chinese: Historicity, State, and International Relations’, Journal of Contemporary China, 20(72), (2011), pp. 813–832. John Aldrich, Jie Lu, and Liu Kang, ‘How Do Americans View the Rising China?’ Journal of Contemporary China 24(92), (2015), pp. 203–221.

⁸ Robin Cohen and Carolin Fischer, eds., Routledge Handbook of Diaspora Studies (London: Routledge, 2018). Ajaya K. Sahoo, ed., Routledge Handbook of Asian Diaspora and Development (London: Routledge, 2021).

⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰ Hong Liu, ‘Opportunities and Anxieties for the Chinese Diaspora in Southeast Asia’, Current History, 115(784), pp. 312–318.

¹¹ Taufiq Tanasaldy, ‘From Official to Grassroots Racism: Transformation of Anti-Chinese Sentiment in Indonesia’, The Political Quarterly, (2022), DOI: 10.1111/1467-923X.13148.

¹² There is a scholarly debate as to the scale and reason of killings (i.e. opportunistic or special targeting). Robert Cribb and Charles A. Coppel, ‘A Genocide That Never Was: Explaining the Myth of Anti-Chinese Massacres in Indonesia, 1965–66’, Journal of Genocide Research, 11(4), (2009), pp. 447–465. Jess Melvin, ‘Why Not Genocide? Anti-Chinese Violence in Aceh, 1965–1966’, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 2013(3), pp. 63–91.

¹³ Chien-Wen Kung, ‘In the Name of Anticommunism: Chinese Practices of Ideological Accommodation in the Early Cold War Philippines’, Modern Asian Studies, 53(5), (2019), pp. 1543–1573. Hongwei Fan, ‘The 1967 Anti-Chinese Riots in Burma and Sino-Burmese Relations’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 43(2), pp. 234–256.

¹⁴ Hong Liu, ‘Opportunities and Anxieties for the Chinese Diaspora in Southeast Asia’, Current History, 115(784), pp. 312–318.

¹⁵ Jabin T. Jacob and The Anh Hoang (ed.), China’s Search for ‘National Rejuvenation’: Domestic and Foreign Policies under Xi Jinping (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). Bates Gill, ‘China’s Global Influence: Post-COVID Prospects for Soft Power’, The Washington Quarterly, 43(2), (2020), pp. 97–115.

¹⁶ Tao Xie and Benjamin I. Page, ‘What Affects China’s National Image? A Cross-National Study of Public Opinion’, Journal of Contemporary China 22(83), (2013), pp. 850–867.

¹⁷ Joshua Kurlantzick, Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power is Transforming the World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007). Ingrid d’ Hooghe, China’s Public Diplomacy (Leiden: Brill Nijhoff, 2015). Bates Gill, ‘China’s Global Influence: Post-COVID Prospects for Soft Power’, The Washington Quarterly, 43(2), (2020), pp. 97–115.

¹⁸ Tao Xie and Benjamin I. Page, ‘What Affects China’s National Image? A Cross-National Study of Public Opinion’, Journal of Contemporary China 22(83), (2013), pp. 850–867. Narisong Huhe and Min Tang, ‘Business is Business: How Does Trade Relationship Fail to Boost Image of China?’ Journal of Contemporary China, 30(129), (2021), pp. 417–433.

¹⁹ Ibid.

²⁰ Yu Xie and Yongai Jin, ‘Global Attitudes toward China: Trends and Correlates’, Journal of Contemporary China, (2021), DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2021.1926088. Laura Silver, Devlin Kat, and Christine Huang, ‘Unfavorable Views of China Reach Historic Highs in Many Countries’, Pew Research Center October 6, 2020, accessed October 15, 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/10/06/unfavorable-views-of-china-reach-historic-highs-in-many-countries/.

²¹ Zhiqun Zhu, ‘Interpreting China’s “Wolf-Warrior Diplomacy”, The Diplomat, May 15, 2020, accessed October 20, 2021, https://pacforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/20200514_PacNet_26.pdf.

²² Wanning Sun, ‘The Virus of Fear and Anxiety: China, COVID-19, and the Australian Media’, Global Media and China, 6(1), (2021), pp. 24–39.

²³ David Brophy. China Panic: Australia’s Alternative to Paranoia and Pandering. (Melbourne: La Trobe University Press, 2021).

²⁴ Xiangfeng Yang, ‘Domestic Contestation, International Backlash, and Authoritarian Resilience: How Did the Chinese Party-state Weather the COVID-19 Crisis?’ Journal of Contemporary China, (2021), DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2021.1893557.

²⁵ Wenshan Jia and Fangzhou Lu, ‘US Media’s Coverage of China’s Handling of COVID-19: Playing the Role of the Fourth Branch of Government or the Fourth Estate?’ Global Media and China, 6(1), (2021), pp. 8–23. Wanning Sun, ‘The Virus of Fear and Anxiety: China, COVID-19, and the Australian Media’, Global Media and China, 6(1), (2021), pp. 24–39.

²⁶ Ibid.

²⁷ Xiangfeng Yang, ‘Domestic Contestation, International Backlash, and Authoritarian Resilience: How Did the Chinese Party-state Weather the COVID-19 Crisis?’ Journal of Contemporary China, (2021), DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2021.1893557.

²⁸ Suisheng Zhao, ‘Rhetoric and Reality of China’s Global Leadership in the Context of COVID-19: Implications for the US-led World Order and Liberal Globalization’, Journal of Contemporary China, 30(128), (2021), pp. 233–248. Bates Gill, ‘China’s Global Influence: Post-COVID Prospects for Soft Power’, The Washington Quarterly, 43(2), (2020), pp. 97–115.

²⁹ Ties Dams, Xiaoxue Martin and Vera Kranenburg, eds., China’s Softpower in Europe: Falling on Hard Times, (2021), https://www.clingendael.org/publication/chinas-soft-power-europe-falling-hard-times.

³⁰ To be fair, there is also a literature noting that some countries have reacted positively to China’s aid/health diplomacy during the pandemic. See Yahua H. Zoubir and Emilie Tran, ‘China’s Health Silk Road in the Middle East and North Africa Amidst COVID-19 and a Contested World Order’, Journal of Contemporary China, (2021), DOI: 10.1080/10670564.2021.1966894. Wei A. Chen, ‘COVID-19 and China’s Changing Soft Power in Italy’, Chinese Political Science Review, (2021), DOI: 10.1007/s41111-021 -00,184-3.

³¹ Aggie J. Yellow Horse, Russell Jeung, and Ronae Matriano, ‘Stop AAPI Hate National Report’, accessed December 14, 2021, https://stopaapihate.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/21-SAH-NationalReport2-v2.pdf.

³² Natasha Kassam and Jennifer Hsu, ‘Being Chinese in Australia: Public Opinion on Chinese Communities’, The Lowy Institute, March 2021, accessed October 19, 2021, https://interactives.lowyinstitute.org/features/chinese-communities/Lowy%20Institute%20–%20Being%20Chinese%20in%20Australia.pdf.

³³ Andrew Markus, Mapping Social Cohesion: The Scanlon Foundation Surveys 2020 (Melbourne: Scanlon Foundation Research Institute, 2021).

³⁴ Xiuming Zhang, ‘Changes and Characteristics of Chinese Overseas Society in the 21^st Century’, Journal of Overseas Chinese History Studies, 2021(1), (2021), pp. 1–16. Daniel Goodkind, The Chinese Diaspora: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Trends (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019).

³⁵ Christine Inglis, ‘Chinese in Australia’, International Migration Review, 6(3), pp. 266–281.

³⁶ Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘2016 Census QuickStats’, last updated October 26, 2021, https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/036. Abby Budiman, ‘Chinese in the U.S. Fact Sheet’, Pew Research Center April 29, 2021, accessed December 14, 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/fact-sheet/asian-americans-chinese-in-the-u-s/.

³⁷ Laura Eichelberger, ‘SARS and New York’s Chinatown: The politics of risk and blame during an epidemic of fear’, Social Science & Medicine, 65(6), (2017), pp. 1284–95. Sylvia Ang and Val Colic-Peisker, ‘Sinophobia in the Asian Century: Race, Nation and Othering in Australia and Singapore’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 45(4), (2022), pp. 718–737.

³⁸ Xiao Tan, Rennie Lee, and Leah Ruppanner, ‘Profiling Racial Prejudice During COVID-19: Who Exhibits Anti-Asian Sentiment in Australia and the United States?’ Australian Journal of Social Issues, 56(4), (2021), pp. 464–484.

³⁹ Guangyi Pan and Alexander Korolev, ‘The Struggle for Certainty: Ontological Security, the Rise of Nationalism, and Australia-China Tensions after COVID-19’, Journal of Chinese Political Science, 26, (2021), pp. 115–138. Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky and Runya Qiaoan, ‘The Politics of Blaming: The Narrative Battle Between China and the US over COVID-19’, Journal of Chinese Political Science, 26, (2021), pp. 295–315.

⁴⁰ Jabin T. Jacob and The Anh Hoang (ed.), China’s Search for ‘National Rejuvenation’: Domestic and Foreign Policies under Xi Jinping (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020). Bates Gill, ‘China’s Global Influence: Post-COVID Prospects for Soft Power’, The Washington Quarterly, 43(2), (2020), pp. 97–115.

⁴¹ Guangyi Pan and Alexander Korolev, ‘The Struggle for Certainty: Ontological Security, the Rise of Nationalism, and Australia-China Tensions after COVID-19’, Journal of Chinese Political Science, 26, (2021), pp. 115–138.

⁴² Laura Silver, Devlin Kat, and Christine Huang, ‘Unfavorable Views of China Reach Historic Highs in Many Countries’, Pew Research Center October 6, 2020, accessed October 15, 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/10/06/unfavorable-views-of-china-reach-historic-highs-in-many-countries/.

⁴³ Jenny Child, Roland Dillon, Eija Erasmus, and Jacob Johnson, ‘Collaboration in crisis: Reflecting on Australia’s COVID-19 response’, McKinsey & Company, December 15, 2020, https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/collaboration-in-crisis-reflecting-on-australias-covid-19-response.

⁴⁴ Anika Stobart and Stephen Duckett, ‘Australia’s Response to COVID-19’, Health Economics, Policy and Law, (2021), DOI: 10.1017/S1744133121000244. Cave Damien, ‘How Australia Saved Thousands of Lives While Covid Killed a Million Americans’, New York Times, May 15, 2022, accessed May 20, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/world/australia/covid-deaths.html.

⁴⁵ David Brophy. China Panic: Australia’s Alternative to Paranoia and Pandering. (Melbourne: La Trobe University Press, 2021). Guangyi Pan and Alexander Korolev, ‘The Struggle for Certainty: Ontological Security, the Rise of Nationalism, and Australia-China Tensions after COVID-19’, Journal of Chinese Political Science, 26, (2021), pp. 115–138.

⁴⁶ Narisong Huhe and Min Tang, ‘Business is Business: How Does Trade Relationship Fail to Boost Image of China?’ Journal of Contemporary China, 30(129), (2021), pp. 417–433.

⁴⁷ Chris Buckley and Cave Damien, ‘Australia Took on China. Did It Get It Right?’ New York Times. September 27, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/world/australia/australia-china-relations.html.

⁴⁸ John Aldrich, Jie Lu, and Liu Kang, ‘How Do Americans View the Rising China?’ Journal of Contemporary China 24(92), (2015), pp. 203–221.

⁴⁹ Kiely, E., Robertson, L., Rieder, R., & Gore, D., ‘Timeline of Trump’s COVID-19 comments’, posted October 2, 2020, https://www.factcheck.org/2020/10/timeline-of-trumps-covid-19-comments/.

⁵⁰ Truu, M., ‘Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Chinese-Australians provided “one of the greatest defences” in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia’, SBS, April 21, 2020, accessed May 20, 2022, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/stop-it-scott-morrison-calls-for-an-end-to-coronavirus-related-racism.

⁵¹ Huimin Chen, Zeyu Zhu, Fanchao Qi, Yining Ye, Zhiyuan Liu, Maosong Sun, and Jianbin Jin, ‘Country Image in COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of China’, IEEE Transactions on Big Data, 7(1), (2021), pp. 81–92.

⁵² Xiao Tan, Rennie Lee, and Leah Ruppanner, ‘Profiling Racial Prejudice During COVID-19: Who Exhibits Anti-Asian Sentiment in Australia and the United States?’ Australian Journal of Social Issues, 56(4), (2021), pp. 464–484.

⁵³ Alan S. Gerber and Donald P. Green, ‘Field Experiments and Natural Experiments’, in The Oxford Handbook of Political Science, ed. Robert E. Goodin (Oxford University Press, 2013). DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199604456.013.0050.

⁵⁴ At time of survey, one US dollar equated to approximately 1.3 AU dollar.

⁵⁵ For Australian responses, we regrouped Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian, and Japanese as the Asian group, English, Australian, Irish, Scottish, Italian, and German as the White group, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander as the other race group, and went through responses for the 15th option individually to re-classify them as appropriate.

⁵⁶ Seemingly unrelated regression allows joint hypotheses testing of parameters across models because the parameter covariance is robust to correlation of residuals across models. See StataCorp, ‘Suest: Seemingly unrelated estimation’, in Stata Base Reference Manual Release 15 (College Station, TX: Stata Press, 2017).

⁵⁷ Laura Silver, Devlin Kat, and Christine Huang, ‘Unfavorable Views of China Reach Historic Highs in Many Countries’, Pew Research Center October 6, 2020, accessed October 15, 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/10/06/unfavorable-views-of-china-reach-historic-highs-in-many-countries/.

⁵⁸ Isabella Kwai, ‘200 Years On, Chinese-Australians Are Still Proving They Belong”. New York Times. May 7, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/world/australia/china-australia-history.html.

⁵⁹ Huimin Chen, Zeyu Zhu, Fanchao Qi, Yining Ye, Zhiyuan Liu, Maosong Sun, and Jianbin Jin, ‘Country Image in COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of China’, IEEE Transactions on Big Data, 7(1), (2021), pp. 81–92. Xiao Tan, Rennie Lee, and Leah Ruppanner, ‘Profiling Racial Prejudice During COVID-19: Who Exhibits Anti-Asian Sentiment in Australia and the United States?’ Australian Journal of Social Issues, 56(4), (2021), pp. 464–484.

⁶⁰ Ethan Masucol, Jangai Jap and Amy H Liu, ‘Islands Apart: Explaining the Chinese Experience in the Philippines’, Frontiers in Political Science, 4, (2022), Article 836,561.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xiao Tan

Xiao Tan is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies and the School of Social and Political Sciences, both at the University of Melbourne.

Rennie Lee

Rennie Lee is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research and Life Course Centre at the University of Queensland.

Leah Ruppanner

Leah Ruppanner is a Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab at the University of Melbourne.