Social survey: Italy grows sympathy for China and Russia and antipathy for the United States

52% of Italian citizens consider China a friendly country, such is the survey data of the Italian research group SWG. It is noted that in a similar survey in 2019, China was considered a friend by only 10% of citizens. The second place on the list was taken by Russia, which considers friendly 32% of citizens (compared to 15% in 2019). By contrast, the proportion of citizens believing that the US is a friend of Italy has declined, from 29% a year earlier to 17% currently. This change is attributed by sociologists to the situation with coronavirus and assistance from China and Russia. For the same reason, the list of unfriendly countries continues to be headed by opponents of economic disputes in the EU, Germany and France, whose figures rose to 45% and 38%, respectively. The third and fourth places on the same list are taken by the United Kingdom and the United States. Also sociologists suggested citizens to choose which of the two countries, the PRC or the USA, to consider the main ally. For the first time in the history of observations Beijing gained an advantage (36% against 30%), with 34% of citizens unable or unwilling to make such a choice. 800 people were interviewed to prepare the study.