73.1% of Japanese People Have No Affinity For China

According to a survey conducted by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and the Sasakawa Japan-China Friendship Fund, 7.3% of Japanese people feel close to China, down 1 percentage point from last year, while 73.1% of Japanese people do not feel close to China, up 2.1 percentage points from last year, basically returning to the level of the previous year. The proportion of Japanese people who think that the current Japan-China relationship is not good has increased from 70.2% last year (down 5 percentage points from the previous year) to 75.5% (slightly higher than the previous year). The survey report also released the results of the Japanese people’s favorability and diplomatic relations with the United States, South Korea, Taiwan and other places, which are clearly different from the data on China.
The “Japanese Awareness Survey on China 2024” released on November 11 was conducted online from August 19 to 25 this year with 3,000 Japanese men and women aged 15 to 89 living in Japan. The survey covered “Japan’s way of interacting with China” and “changes in Japan-China relations”, and also investigated the Japanese people’s favorability and attention to the United States, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Sense of Affinity: Taiwan 63.5%, the United States 49.3%, South Korea 26.4%

(Based on data from the “Japanese Awareness Survey on China 2024” (Sasakawa Peace Foundation))
In the survey on whether each country/region has a sense of closeness, Taiwan ranked first in the total of “feeling close” and “feeling relatively close”, with 63.5%, followed by the United States at 49.3%, South Korea at 26.4%, and China at only 7.3%. The highest total of “not feeling close” and “not feeling relatively close” was 73.1% in China, followed by South Korea at 48.8%, the United States at 18.5%, and Taiwan at 15.5%, with China showing a large difference.
In the survey on the degree of attention paid to each country/region, a large difference can also be seen. China had the lowest total of “very concerned” and “relatively concerned”, at 26.4%. The total number of people who answered “not paying any attention” or “not paying much attention” to China was 51.7%, which exceeded half. The Japanese are most concerned about the United States, with a total of 61.5% of them “very concerned” and “relatively concerned” (a total of 16.0% of them “not concerned at all” and “relatively concerned”), followed by Taiwan at 56.1% (a total of 19.9% ​​of them “not concerned at all” and “relatively concerned”), and South Korea at 37.2% (a total of 39.1% of them “not concerned at all” and “relatively concerned”).

Only 3.3% of people think that Sino-Japanese relations are good

(Based on data from the “Japanese People’s Awareness Survey on China 2024” (Sasakawa Peace Foundation))
In the survey on Japan’s relations with various countries/regions, the number of Japanese people who have a negative view of Sino-Japanese relations is also eye-catching. Only 3.3% of people think that Sino-Japanese relations are “good” or “relatively good”. And the total number of people who think that “bad” or “relatively bad” is as high as 75.5%. In contrast, 63.7% of respondents said that the relationship between Japan and Taiwan was “good” or “relatively good”, and 51.9% said that the relationship between Japan and the United States was “good”. Even the relationship between Japan and South Korea, with 19.3% saying that it was “good” or “relatively good” and 43.4% saying that it was “bad” or “relatively bad”, was significantly higher than the relationship between China and Japan.
In addition, in the survey on the extent to which people trust the reports of various countries/regions on Japan, the data also differed significantly. The total number of people who “trust” or “relatively trust” the reports of Chinese media was only 5.8%, while the total number of people who “completely distrust” or “relatively distrust” was as high as 77.8%. In contrast, Taiwan (53.4% ​​of respondents said that they “trust” or “relatively trust” and 25.1% of respondents said that they “completely distrust” or “relatively distrust”), the United States (47.4% of respondents said that the former was “good” and 34.1% of respondents said that the latter was “bad” or “relatively distrust”), and South Korea (17.8% of respondents said that the former was “bad” and 63.8% of respondents said that the latter was “bad”).

(Based on data from the “Japanese People’s Awareness Survey on China 2024” (Sasakawa Peace Foundation))
The changes in the results of several survey items related to China over the past two years have also attracted attention. In the response to “Japan-China intergovernmental relations have deteriorated compared to 10 years ago”, the total number of “completely agree” and “somewhat agree” dropped from 43.4% last year to 38.4%. The total number of “completely disagree” and “somewhat disagree” rose from 10.1% to 12.5%. In response to the question “Compared with 10 years ago, China has become arrogant in the international community”, the total number of respondents who “completely agree” and “somewhat agree” dropped slightly from 55.0% last year to 54.4%, while the proportion of respondents who “completely disagree” and “somewhat disagree” rose from 7.2% to 8.6%.

The importance of China in the economic field is also decreasing

“In order to maintain and develop Japan’s economy, exchanges with China are necessary in any case”
(Based on data from the “Japanese People’s Awareness Survey on China 2024” (Sasakawa Peace Foundation))
On the other hand, in the economic field, in response to “In order to maintain and develop Japan’s economy, exchanges with China are necessary in any case”, the total number of “completely agree” and “somewhat agree” decreased from 45.4% to 42.5%, and the total number of “completely disagree” and “somewhat disagree” increased from 13.3% to 16.8%. In response to “China is more open than ten years ago”, the total number of “completely agree” and “somewhat agree” decreased from 15.8% last year to 14.9%, and the total number of “disagree” and “somewhat disagree” increased from 42.8% to 44.1%.

Perceptions of peacekeeping are also changing

“In order to maintain peace, it is necessary for the Japanese government to establish closer relations with the Chinese government”
(Based on data from the “Japanese People’s Awareness Survey on China 2024” (Sasakawa Peace Foundation))
For the survey item “In order to maintain peace, the Japanese government needs to establish closer relations with the Chinese government”, the total number of responses for “completely agree” and “somewhat agree” slightly decreased from 33.4% last year to 33.2%, and the total number of responses for “somewhat disagree” and “completely disagree” increased from 16.2% last year to 19.8%. In the survey items such as “Considering various risks, exchanges with China need to be kept to a minimum” (increased from 39.7% to 43.8%), “Since China is strengthening its military, Japan must counter it” (increased from 30.3% to 33.1%), “There is no need to restrict exchanges with Taiwan for fear of China” (increased from 51.2% to 53.6%), and “In the current US-China confrontation, Japan should stand on the side of the United States” (increased from 41.5% to 43.0%), the proportion of “completely agree” and “somewhat agree” increased.

Survey results on China in 2022-2024 (%)

Interaction with China: In order to maintain and develop Japan’s economy, interaction with China is necessary in any case”Strongly agree”,”Somewhat agree”,”Strongly disagree”, “Disagree” 42.516.8 45.413.3 — In order to maintain peace, it is necessary for the Japanese government to establish a closer relationship with the Chinese government “Completely agree”, “Comparatively agree” “Completely disagree”, “Comparatively disagree” 33.219.8 33.416.2 — As China is strengthening its military, Japan must counter it “Completely agree”, “Comparatively agree” Agree”, “Completely Disagree”, “Somewhat Disagree” 33.118.7 30.320.2 — Methods of interacting with China: There is no need to restrict exchanges with Taiwan out of concern for China “Completely Agree”, “Somewhat Agree” “Completely Disagree”, “Somewhat Disagree” 53.611.8 51.211.2 — Methods of interacting with China: In the current US-China confrontation, Japan should stand on the side of the United States “Completely Agree”, “Somewhat Agree” Somewhat agree” “Totally disagree” “Somewhat disagree” 43.08.5 41.58.6 — 43.08.5 41.58.6 Subjects of interaction in Sino-Japanese relations “Intergovernmental cooperation should play an important role” “Tend to think that intergovernmental cooperation should play an important role” “Non-governmental cooperation should play an important role” “Tend to think that non-governmental cooperation should play an important role” “Both government and non-governmental cooperation should play an important role” 48.115.033.8 45.916.434.8 46.415. 334.5 People-to-people exchanges between Japan and China are “very well developed”, “relatively well developed”, “not well developed”, “relatively not well developed” 10.728.2 9.431.0 7.437.3 (Compiled based on the “Japanese Awareness Survey on China 2024”, “Japanese Awareness Survey on China 2023”, “Japanese Awareness Survey on China 2024”, and “Results of the Japanese Awareness Survey on China (2022)” released by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation)

Other surveys also reflect the grim views of Japanese people on China

Regarding the views of Japanese people on China, the results of the “Diplomatic-related Public Opinion Survey” released by the Japanese Cabinet Office in January 2024 also showed grim data. This was a survey conducted by mail from September to October last year, targeting 3,000 people aged 18 and above with Japanese nationality across Japan. The data showed that the number of Japanese who answered that they “felt close” or “felt relatively close” to China decreased by 5.1 percentage points from the previous year to 12.7%. This is the lowest value since the survey on the sense of closeness of major countries and regions began in 1978. The number of Japanese who answered that they “did not feel close” or “felt relatively close” to China increased by 4.9 percentage points from the previous year to 86.7%, setting a record high.
In addition, in the results of the “Japan-China Joint Public Opinion Survey” jointly released by Japan’s specific non-profit organization “Speech NPO” and China International Communication Group, a Chinese foreign publishing and distribution agency, in October 2023 (the Japanese survey was conducted in September last year), the proportion of Japanese people who have a negative impression of China has further increased from 87.3% in the previous year to 92.2%. At the same time, the proportion of Japanese people who think that China and Japan are “important” or “relatively important” has also dropped significantly from 74.8% in the previous year to 65.1%.

Survey results emphasizing strengthening economic relations

So, how should Sino-Japanese relations develop? The “Japanese People’s Awareness Survey on China 2024” also asked about effective measures to promote the development of Japan-China relations. The survey adopted a method in which respondents were asked to select up to 3 options from the options. The answer to “strengthen economic relations between Japan and China” increased from 24.0% in 2022 to 28.7% last year, and this time it further increased to 29.7%, showing an upward trend. “Achieving reconciliation of historical understanding between the two sides” dropped from 32.5% in 2022 to 26.2% in 2023, but rose again to 31.7% this time. On the other hand, several options that rose in 2023, such as “regular mutual visits of state leaders” (from 20.7% to 26.3%), “promoting exchanges in multiple fields such as culture and art” (from 21.8% to 28.9%), and “strengthening mutual cooperation on global issues such as climate change and infectious diseases” (from 21.8% to 28.9%), fell to 25.6%, 27.5%, and 17.6% respectively this time.

“Effective measures to promote Japan-China relations” (answers in the survey results from 2022-2024): Up to 3 items can be selected

Strengthen mutual cooperation on global issues such as climate change and infectious diseases17.619.615.2

Strengthen mutual cooperation in conflicts and disasters in other countries12.914.114.3Others2.82.14.926.526.826.1

(Based on the data of “Japanese People’s Awareness Survey on China 2024” (Sasakawa Peace Foundation))

Increasing willingness to promote exchanges in the field of education

For the question items on people-to-people exchanges, the total number of “not fully developed” and “not fully developed” was 28.2%, which was higher than the total number of “very fully developed” and “very fully developed” by 10.7%. However, the number of responses that “not fully developed” has continued to decrease from 37.3% in 2022 and 28.2% in 2023, and the number of responses that “very fully developed” has continued to increase from 7.4% in 2022 and 9.4% in 2023.
Regarding the survey item “In which areas should people-to-people exchanges between Japan and China be promoted?”, respondents can choose up to three answers from the options. The survey results show that the answer of “promoting exchanges in the field of education through exchange study, etc.” has increased from 17.1% in 2022 and 22.8% in 2023 to 23.4% this time, and “promoting exchanges in the fields of culture and art” has increased from 27.6% in 2022 and 34.2% in 2023 to 34.8%, both of which have increased. In addition, although the answer of “promoting tourism to Japan and China” has increased from 19.6% in 2022 to 22.8% last year, and “promoting sports exchanges” has increased from 11.4% in 2022 to 15.6% last year, they have dropped to 16.2% and 14.3% respectively this time.