An opinion poll conducted by the German Marshall Fund, a transatlantic think tank, showed on Monday. The poll said that one third of Europeans and Americans see China’s rapid economic growth to be an opportunity, while nearly 60 percent remain wary of China’s rising economic power.
According to the poll which covered France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Britain and the United States, China skeptics worrying about China’s economy see its large amount of inexpensive goods export and their companies relocating to China as a potential threat.
The survey found that 70 percent of people in France and only slightly fewer in Poland, Italy and Slovakia expressed jitters over China’s emerging economy. Britain, which traditionally favors free trade, had more people who saw China’s rising as an opportunity than a threat.
With European manufacturing coming under pressure from Asia, the European Union has imposed anti-dumping duties on a range of Chinese exports, including leather shoes.
EU and Chinese negotiators are due to begin talks next month on a broad new bilateral agreement, including some economic issues. And, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is leading a high-level Washington delegation to China later this month.