22vPaX

chung and kim • is south korea in china’s orbit?
These findings are also supported in part by the changes in the favorability
score for China (see Figure 1). 25 In 2010, China’s favorability score was 4.50,
but it dropped to 3.93 and 3.94 in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Due perhaps to
the positive impact of the exchange of visits by Presidents Park and Xi, China’s
favorability score increased to 4.24 in 2013 and 4.87 in 2014, reducing the gap
with the scores for the United States. Around the time of President Xi’s visit in
July 2014, China’s favorability score peaked at 5.13. 26
Thanks to the new leaders’ proactive diplomacy, South Korean public
perceptions of China have been quite positive since 2013. Compared with the
prevailing sentiments in South Korean society in 2012, the change is rather
10
9
8
7
FIGURE 1
Country Favorability Scores
Favorability score
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Favorability of China
Favorability of the United States
2010 2011 2012 2013 May 2014 July 2014
Year
Source: Asan Institute for Policy Studies, Asan Annual Survey, 2010–13; and Asan Institute for Policy Studies,
Asan Daily Poll, May 1–3, 2014, July 4–6, 2014.
25 The favorability scores of China and the United States are measured on a scale of 0 to 10. When a
person dislikes a country very much, he or she gives a score of 0. If a person likes a country very
much, his or her favorability score for the country is 10. The scores are average figures of the sample.
Calculations are based on the Asan Institute’s annual surveys as well as its daily polls in May and
July 2014. While the primary focus here is South Koreans’ favorability scores for China, we have
juxtaposed them with the favorability scores for the United States for the purpose of comparison.
26 According to a recent survey conducted by the Chosun Daily in 2015, those who had favorable
feelings toward China accounted for 23.1%, while the percentage of respondents with favorable
feelings toward the United States was 54.2%. See “Gwangbok 70nyon gungmin euisik josa” [The
National Opinion Survey in Commemoration of the 70th Year of Liberation], Chosun Daily,
August 10, 2015.
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