Canadians who see US as threat tripled since 2019, finds Pew survey

New Delhi: When respondents in 24 countries were asked who they saw as their nation’s most important ally and greatest threat, the US was the most common response in 12. In eight of these countries, respondents identified the US as the biggest threat, according to a survey published earlier this week by the Pew Research Center.

In neighbouring Canada and Mexico, as well as in Argentina, Brazil and Kenya, the US was the top response for both the ally and threat questions.

Among countries naming the US as the most important ally were Israel, South Korea, Japan, Canada and the UK. In Israel, 95 percent of people said so while in South Korea, the number was 89 percent, and in Japan, 78 percent.

The US was considered the biggest threat in Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Spain and Kenya. In Mexico, 68 percent of people termed the US as their country’s top threat—the highest among all nations surveyed. In Canada, this number was 59 percent and was three times what it was in 2019.

One of the reasons people saw the US as a threat was because of its economic influence.

In many countries, particularly across Europe, people were more concerned about the US making their economy poorer than attacking their country. For example, Canadians most cited economic reasons not military ones for their views.

In Europe, Russia was considered the biggest threat, particularly in Poland (81 percent), Sweden (77 percent), Germany (59 percent), and France (50 percent). The image of Russia in these countries is mostly related to national security, given the tensions in the region and the memories of past conflicts. It was the same in the US, where people who saw Russia as a threat mostly cited security risks, not economic ones. Respondents in Europe who support Right-wing populist parties were less likely to say Russia was a threat to their country.

In the Asia and Pacific region, China came out to be the biggest problem. It was the greatest threat named by 53 percent of people in Japan and 52 percent of people in Australia.

In the US, 42 percent of people named China as the biggest threat. In India, China came in second after Pakistan. In South Korea, China came after North Korea as the next biggest threat.

People in these countries see China as a threat not only for military reasons, but also because of its economic power. In the US and South Korea, people said China was a serious threat both to their economy and national security.

Political views also made a difference. In the US, a Republican was more likely to say China was the biggest threat, while a Democrat was more likely to name Russia. In other countries too, people on the Left or the Right differed in views.

In Australia, 34 percent of those on the Left see the US as a threat. Among those on the Right, it was only 5 percent. In Israel, almost nobody saw the US, China or even Russia as a threat. Instead, most people named Iran (52 percent) and Hamas (17 percent).

Mannat Kaur is an intern at ThePrint

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)

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