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China seen as threat to global stability
15 April 2008


LONDON - Europeans see China as a bigger threat to global stability than the United States, Iran or North Korea, according to a poll published Tuesday.

The Harris survey for the Financial Times showed that an average of 35 percent of voters in Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Italy saw China as the biggest threat to global stability, compared to 29 percent who thought the same of the United States.

In Italy, 47 percent of voters named China as the biggest threat, up from 26 percent in a similar poll last year.

Meanwhile, 36 percent of French voters thought the same of China, up from 22 percent last year, compared with 35 percent of Germans who saw China as the biggest threat to stability, from 18 percent in 2007.

Some 27 percent of British voters also China as the biggest threat, from 16 percent last year.

Only in Spain was the United States regarded as a bigger threat than China, by a 41 percent to 28 percent margin.

Harris questioned a total of 5,381 voters in Britain (1,122), France (1,114), Germany (1,028), Spain (1,012) and Italy (1,105) between March 27 and April 8 for the