Fewer Japanese than Australians, Indians Feel U.S. Harmful to Asia

Sydney, Sept. 7 (Jiji Press)–Far more Australians and Indians felt that the United States is a harmful presence in Asia than Japanese people, a recent survey has shown. According to the survey conducted by the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Center covering people in the Quad nations of Japan, the United States, Australia and India, the proportion of Indian respondents who thought that the United States is mostly harmful to Asia stood at 37 pct and that of Australians came to 36 pct. By contrast, the proportion came to 12 pct among Japanese respondents. On the other hand, the proportion of those who said that the United States is mostly helpful to the region stood at 27 pct among Indian respondents, 22 pct among Australians and 42 pct among Japanese respondents. Meanwhile, more people believed that China is more harmful than helpful to Asia among all four Quad nations. The proportion of people in Japan who answered that China is mostly harmful totaled 57 pct, followed by 42 pct among Australians, 38 pct among Indians and 35 pct among those in the United States. The results apparently reflected distrust of Beijing over its maritime and military expansion, as well as export restrictions on rare earths. Asked whether they expect their countries to be involved in an armed conflict with China in the next 10 years, 57 pct of Indian respondents said that such a conflict is a possibility. The same answer was given by 47 pct of Americans, 38 pct of Australians and 33 pct of Japanese respondents. Elsewhere in the survey, 68 pct of people in Australia and 60 pct of those in Japan believed that the United States would come to their aid if their nations were attacked by China. Japan and Australia are both allies of the United States. The proportion came to 54 pct among those in India, which has not signed an alliance with Washington. The survey also showed that 50 pct of people in Australia and India supported the idea that the Quad framework should become a formal military alliance, while the proportion stood at 44 pct for Japanese and U.S. respondents. Conducted in May this year, the survey covered about 1,000 adults in each of the Quad nations. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]