Prejudices make most Japanese wary of China

The annual survey of Chinese and Japanese media jointly conducted by Oriental Outlook, a weekly news magazine published by Xinhua News Agency, and Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper was published recently. Based on several thousand questionnaires in both countries, the survey results provide a perfect opportunity for us to gauge the psychological difference between the two peoples and feel their popular sentiments.

The survey figures show there is still a gap between the two peoples in terms of mutual understanding and recognition, indicating it remains a daunting long-term task for the two nations to promote mutual understanding and acceptance at the grassroots level.

Generally speaking, an unprecedented 67 percent of Chinese citizens rated Sino-Japanese ties as "good" while 29 percent believed otherwise (not good); in comparison, only 36 percent of Japanese public agreed with "good" and 57 percent chose "not good". Of course, compared with the 27 percent positive rating in 2006, when former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited China, the latest survey results tell us the Japanese people's confidence in our bilateral ties has recovered a bit.