‘The U.S. is more threatening than Russia’... Distrust of ally surges in Japan

[Financial News] As public sentiment in Japan identifying the United States, its ally, as the greatest threat to world peace surges, the U.S. has overtaken Russia to become the second most threatening country, after China.
According to Japan's Jiji Press on the 11th, a poll conducted by the Newspaper and Communications Research Institute, a Japanese public-interest incorporated foundation, surveyed 2,676 adults aged 18 and older nationwide from July 17 to August 16. Of the respondents, 26.8% named the United States as “the country that poses the greatest threat to world peace,” up 9.3 percentage points from last year. This was the second-highest figure, behind China (32.5%), with which Japan's relations have deteriorated.
In particular, a total of 82.5% of respondents said that U.S. President Donald Trump was having a negative impact on the world, including those who said he was having “somewhat of a negative impact”—up 3.1 percentage points from the previous year. By contrast, only 13.2% said he was having a positive impact.
An institute official explained, “The tendency to view the United States as a threat to the world is growing stronger because of President Trump's unpredictable actions.”
The survey offered eight countries as choices, including the United States, China, Russia and North Korea.
China, which ranked second last year, saw its figure rise by 8.2 percentage points and was named the country that poses the greatest threat to world peace. In connection with this, 76.7% said they felt “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about a Taiwan contingency.
Russia, which had previously received the highest share of responses, ranked third at 18.3%, followed by North Korea (9.1%) and Iran (1.9%), among others.

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