The power struggle between China and the U.S. was thrust into daylight last week when a Chinese jet intercepted a U.S. naval patrol plane over the South China Sea. After the fact, the U.S. military said its plane had been flying routine patrols in international airspace. The Chinese military said the airspace was theirs and that the U.S. needed to stop conducting close surveillance of its territory.
China's economy is poised to surpass that of the U.S. sometime early in the next decade, and the jet intercept is just the latest signal of a geopolitical shift that has forced the U.S. to share the world stage with the East Asian superpower.
We know how Americans feel about China. Only 35% have a favorable view. But what about the rest of the world? Using data from the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, we took a look at global opinions. The graphic below shows you the nations that clearly prefer either the U.S. or China. At the bottom and shaded black are the countries that have comparable opinions of the two countries.
