Date

July 9, 2014

Page

2

Contact

Ms Heesun Kim

Office

02-3701-7387

E-mail

communications@asaninst.org

* For Immediate Release

64.7% positively assess Korea-China summit

From July 4-6, 2014 the Asan Institute for Policy Studies conducted a public opinion survey on attitudes toward China after the recent Korea-China summit.

While 64.7% positively assessed the Korea-China summit, just 13.6% negatively assessed it.

A nearly identical percentage (65.0%) said the summit produced positive outcomes for Korea, with 17.7% disagreeing.

A clear majority (69.9%) stated that China’s economic rise was a threat to South Korea. This was virtually unchanged from early May when 71.9% stated the same.

A clear majority (63.6%) also stated that China’s military rise was a threat to South Korea. This was only a slight decline from early May when 66.4% stated the same.

59.0% stated that security cooperation with the United States was more important compared to 26.5% that cited security cooperation with China as more important. When this same question was asked in mid-March, 57.1% cited security cooperation with the United States compared to 29.8% that cited China.

If the US-China relationship becomes more confrontational, 59.6% stated it was more important to strengthen cooperation with the United States. 24.9% cited China.

In terms on a potential FTA with China, 65.5% were in support with 24.2% opposed. When this question was previously asked in 2013, 48.0% were in support with 27.1% opposed. This was the only significant change among all metrics from pre- to post-summit.

Regarding the benefits of an FTA, there was a significant increase in the sense that an agreement would benefit both countries equally. In the most recent survey, 48.9% stated as such. In 2013, 41.6% stated both countries would benefit equally.

The sample size of the survey was 1,000 people over the age of 19. The margin of error was ±3.1% at the 95% confidence level. The survey employed RDD for landline and mobile telephones.