ASEAN public sentiment toward China has been shifting over the last five years, with distrust falling from 63% to 41.2%, while trust more than doubled, from 16.5% to 36.6%. Despite the narrowing gap, skepticism still outweighs confidence overall, though trends suggest that might change. As the region continues to deal with the fallout of the Trump Administration’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and adjusts to a changing US role in Southeast Asia, China has sought to position itself as a stable and reliable partner by comparison.
