Preface
China-CEE Institute in cooperation with GKI Economic Research Co. had implemented a massive survey on “How the CEE citizens view China’s development in 2021” in October-November 2021.
The Survey has the following characteristics:
1. Continuity. Since the establishment in 2017, the China-CEE Institute had implemented 5 round surveys in every autumn in Central and Eastern Europe, with the same questions and same methods. Continuity can provide possibility for further conducting comparative studies, and have an in-depth picture of the citizens in Central and Eastern Europe on China’s development.
2. Coverage. The survey covers 16 Central and Eastern European countries, and as well as Greece and Belorussia. All together 18 countries had been surveyed. 3. Sample. In each country we have 1000 sample copies and all together we have 18,000 sample copies.
4. Quality. Working together with professional survey institutions, like Ipsos, Impetus Research (former GFK) and TNS Kantor, and using 3 different survey methods such as CAPI (face-to-face interview), CAWI (on-line) and CATI (by telephone), we can ensure the quality of the survey.
We also use the EU conjuncture research method, the 1 to 5 scale was transferred to a -100 to +100 scale to eliminate neutral answers and to better show the smaller differences between countries. Based on this method, we find the following changes of the CEE citizens view on China in last five years.
1. Views on China’s economic development had shown continued steady rise. In 2017 the average point of the CEE citizens view on China’s economic development was +41. It increased to +43 in 2018 and 2019, and reached +44 in 2020 and 2021. It shows the CEE citizens have a positive opinion on China’s economic development.
2. Views on China’s importance in world economy are also positive and relatively stable. In 2017 the average point of the CEE citizens view on China’s importance in world economy was +44. It increased to +45 in 2018 and 2019, and stay at +44 in 2020 and 2021.
3. Views on impact of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are in wave shape. In 2017 the average point of the CEE citizens view on impact of the BRI was +13. It increased to +17 in 2018 and 2019, and decreased to +15 and +14 in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Due to the pandemic, exchanges and mobility had been massively dropped, and it has negative impact on BRI. However, the views on BRI are positive against the slow decrease.
We also have country reports of the survey. In the country reports, you can find the views based on age, gender, education, and urban-rural criteria.
The China-CEE Institute is established by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), registered as a non-profit limited company in Budapest, Hungary in April 2017. The China-CEE Institute is building ties and strengthen partnerships with academic institutions and think tanks in Hungary, Central and Eastern European countries, as well as other parts of Europe. The China-CEE Institute aims to encourage scholars and researchers to carry out joint researches, field studies, to organize seminars and lecture series, to hold some training programs for younger students, and make publication, etc.
The China-CEE Institute plans to gradually accumulate a database through the annual survey project and observe changes in the perceptions on China’s development in Central and Eastern European countries. We hope you can find the survey interesting and the data useful.
Prof. Dr. CHEN Xin Executive President and Managing Director, China-CEE Institute Deputy Director General, Institute of European Studies, CASS