China Is No.1 (Or So Many People Believe)

Has China become the world’s leading economic power, unseating the U.S.?

Even as mainland growth begins to cool, that’s what many people now believe, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. It’s the first time international opinion has put China’s economy on top. And it shows a big shift in global perceptions since the global financial crisis dented world confidence in America and boosted China’s international standing as the fastest-growing major economic power.
Results from the survey—conducted via more than 26,000 phone and personal interviews in 21 countries during March and April—show 42 percent of respondents cite China as having the leading economy, compared with 36 percent who chose the U.S. In 2008, before the financial crisis, 45 percent said America led globally, while only 22 percent gave the top slot to China. “Assessments of American economic power have declined over the last year, and views about U.S. economic strength have shifted dramatically over the last four years,” says the report, which was released June 13 and gave its respondents the option of choosing the U.S., China, Japan, the European Union (or other/none), as the mightiest economic power.
European countries are most convinced of the shift, with 62 percent of Germans, 58 percent of British, and 57 percent of both French and Spanish saying China is now the economic leader. Even those in the U.S. were slightly more confident about China’s economic leadership, over their own nation’s economic role: 41 percent of Americans put the Asian giant’s economy on top, while 40 percent say the U.S. economy is leading. “Perceptions about the global economic balance of power have been shifting, with growing numbers naming China, rather than the U.S., as the world’s leading economy,” the report stated.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-14/china-is-no-dot-1-or-so-many-people-believe