Australians on China: Less of a military threat, but too much investment in residential real estate

The Lowy Institute Poll, released today, contains a mixed set of findings on Australia’s relationship with its largest trading partner, China. Most Australian adults (77%) see China as ‘more of an economic partner to Australia’ than a ‘military threat’ (15%), and an almost equal number (73%) say ‘Australia should develop closer relations with China as it grows in influence’.

However, 70% of Australians say the government allows ‘too much’ investment in Australian residential real estate from China, far more than say there is too much investment from the Middle East (50%), Japan (47%), Russia (37%), the United States (34%) and Europe (34%).

Perceptions of the military threat posed by China appear to have eased this year, with 39% of Australians (down 9 points from last year) saying it’s likely that China will become a military threat to Australia in the next 20 years.

Nevertheless, 66% of Australians this year say ‘Australia should do more to resist China’s military aggression in our region, even if this affects our economic relationship’. But this willingness to do more does not seem to apply in the case of a conflict between Japan and China. In the event of a military conflict between China and Japan, 84% say ‘Australia should remain neutral’.

“Australians’ views on China are always mixed and this year is no exception: while perceptions of China as a military threat appear to have waned somewhat, this is counterbalanced by the emergence of a strong opposition to Chinese investment in residential real estate”, said Alex Oliver, Director of the Poll.

The full report is available on the Lowy Institute website, together with the updated 2015 Lowy Institute Poll Interactive – a data visualisation tool exploring key results from 11 years of Lowy Institute polling.

These results are drawn from a nationally representative telephone survey of 1200 Australian adults by I-view for the 2015 Lowy Institute Poll between 20 February and 8 March 2015. The Poll’s error margin is approximately +/- 2.8%.