The Asian Barometer 2022: Measuring the Swedish public’s views of China, India and Japan

Executive summary

• This first-of-its-kind survey of Swedish public opinion on major Asian countries reveals a mix of views about nations in the region. There are generally positive views about Japan, both negative and more positive views about India and overwhelmingly negative views of China.

• A majority of the members of the Swedish public surveyed agreed that China, India and Japan will be important actors in the future, which probably reflects a general understanding among the public of the growing importance of Asia as a whole.

• The survey indicates that most of the Swedish public are supportive of Swedish cooperation with Japan and India, but only just over a quarter are supportive of cooperation with China.

• The Swedish public appears to have overwhelmingly negative views of China. The vast majority of respondents disagreed that it acts in a responsible way internationally and respects democratic rights.

• The proportions of respondents who said that they would not like to visit either China or India were higher than those who expressed a desire to visit these countries. The vast majority of respondents said they would like to visit Japan.

• The survey suggests that there is a lack of knowledge among the Swedish public of these three major Asian countries, particularly India. On average, one-fifth of respondents chose to answer “don’t know” when asked whether they agreed with statements about these countries.