China's reputation in Germany, the United States and other economically well-developed countries has drastically deteriorated under state and party leader Xi Jinping.

According to polls and data analysis published by the US-based polling institute Pew on Thursday, public opinion about China has "steeped more negatively" in the industrialized countries during Xi Jinping's ten-year tenure.

There are concerns above all about Chinese human rights policy, military demonstrations of power and the dominant economy.

At the congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which takes place every five years and begins on October 16 in Beijing, Xi Jinping wants to be confirmed as party leader for an unprecedented third term.

The Central Committee had already given the 69-year-old Xi a lifelong leadership mandate last November, as the first party leader since the revolutionary and state founder Mao Tsetung.

The number of Germans surveyed who have “no trust” in Xi Jinping rose from 62 percent eight years ago to 79 percent.

Above all, the image of China in Germany has changed radically: while in 2005 only 37 percent of Germans had a negative opinion of China, the number has since doubled to 74 percent.

But the Pew researchers emphasized that unfavorable opinions in the polls generally relate to China's leadership, its government or economy, but not the Chinese people.

Poor handling of Corona outbreak 2019

The bad image of China is therefore also affected by views that China did not deal well with the outbreak of the corona pandemic.

The first Covid-19 infections were discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 before spreading around the world.

According to the researchers, this is not the only driving factor.

As the researchers reported, there is a widespread sense that China's power on the world stage is increasing: "Besides its growing influence, there is also a feeling that China is a growing threat." Across the 19 countries where surveys were conducted in 2022 an average of 72 percent viewed China's military might as a serious problem, including 37 percent who even spoke of a "very serious problem," the Pew researchers reported.

More than China's military power or strong economic power, however, the respondents were concerned that China violated human rights.

Around half or more of respondents in 10 out of 19 countries described human rights abuses as a serious problem.

In Germany, 85 percent (2021) of those surveyed found that China does not respect human rights.

54 percent described it as a “very serious problem” in Germany in 2022 – ahead of the military power (44 percent) or the economic competition from China (31 percent).