New Zealanders wary of superpowers posing potential threat

A new poll shows that more people view China as a threat as distrust in the US continues to rise.

The latest survey by the Asia New Zealand Foundation showed that 36 percent of New Zealanders viewed China as a threat, an increase from 23 percent recorded in June.

At the same time, 23 percent respondents viewed China as a friend, down from 43 percent in June.

The organisation's Dr Julia MacDonald said the findings followed China's ballistic missile test in the Pacific in July.

"We see in the same survey, 50 percent were 'very' or 'extremely concerned' about that missile test," she said.

Meanwhile, 39 percent of New Zealanders saw the US as a threat, an increase of 4 percent from the previous survey.

The percentage of New Zealanders viewing US as a friend has dropped from 39 percent to 24 percent.

The survey showed that New Zealanders' distrust in the two major powers had also grown since the last survey.

More than half of New Zealanders, or 56 percent, expressed having little trust in the US, with 30 percent saying they had "very low" trust.

Forty-eight percent said they had little trust in China, with 18 percent reporting "very low" trust to act responsibly, an increase of 2 percent and 9 percent, respectively, from the June survey.

Just 18 and 16 percent of New Zealanders expressed high trust in the United States and China, respectively, according to the survey.

Australia remained New Zealanders' most trusted power, with 78 percent expressing high or very high trust, followed by the United Kingdom and Japan.

Just over one in five, or 22 percent, of New Zealanders said they had high trust in India to act responsibly on the world stage.

"Throughout our polling, what we see is Kiwis being very wary of great powers, and great powers especially that seem to be breaking rules or potentially harming New Zealand's interests," MacDonald said.

"This is a reaction to the new cycles that we're seeing happening in the world ... changes in US behaviour that are leading to quite significant drops in friend perceptions and also trust levels."

At the same time, New Zealanders continued to view both China and the US as important, although in different ways.

Respondents viewed China as significant to New Zealand's future, while they saw the US as important to support the country's security and defence.

"What is striking is that concern or distrust does not necessarily mean New Zealanders see a country as unimportant or that we should disengage," MacDonald said.

"People are distinguishing between the different roles these major powers play - from future prosperity to defence and security - and what those relationships mean for New Zealand."

The poll also showed wider global developments were weighing heavily on New Zealanders.

Sixty-two percent were "very" or "extremely concerned" about the US-Israel war with Iran, while 57 percent were highly concerned about the rapid development of AI and its potential impact.

China's submarine-launched ballistic missile test was the next biggest concern, with half of those surveyed saying they are very or extremely concerned about the July test over the Pacific Ocean.