China has once again topped a trust index among 28 markets surveyed worldwide, with a record high public confidence in its government, business, media and NGOs, showed the results published on Tuesday.
According to Edelman Trust Barometer 2020, China achieved 82 points among the general population, four points higher than 2019 and nine than 2018. It is the third consecutive year China has kept the position.
Giving a keynote speech in Brussels, Zhang Ming, Head of the Chinese Mission to the European Union, attributed the results to the significant economic and social development that have taken place in China over the last 70 years.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the country’s GDP has increased by over 1,100 folds, and average life expectancy has risen from 35 to 77 years. More than 800 million people have shaken off poverty, he noted.
“As a public servant and an ordinary citizen, I feel quite encouraged yet not surprised,” said the ambassador. He said that trust is only a logical result of the governance philosophy of the Chinese government that always puts people at the center.
Zhang Ming cited the ongoing fight against COVID-19 — the disease caused by the new coronavirus — as an example.
He mentioned the strong measures taken by the Chinese government including 2 billion-euro (2.2-billion-U.S.-dollar) appropriation to designated medical facilities, over 42,000 medical workers dispatched to the most-affected areas, as well as two up-to-standard hospitals set up in a few days.
The ambassador quoted Bruce Aylward, team leader of the China-WHO joint mission on COVID-19, who said that China’s approach has probably prevented hundreds of thousands of cases of COVID-19.
Globally, China has translated its Paris Agreement commitments into actions three years ahead of schedule, and is expected to fulfill the goal of poverty eradication as listed in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda 10 years ahead of schedule.
“We are of the view that we live in a community of shared future and common interests. Countries are in the same boat, and cannot afford a beggar-thy-neighbor approach,” underlined Zhang Ming.
The annual Trust Barometer is done by Edelman, an American PR and marketing consultancy firm. The survey reaches more than 34,000 respondents in 28 markets including developed ones like the UK, the U.S., Germany, Japan, and developing ones like China, India and Indonesia.
In the Trust Barometer 2020, the field work of which was conducted between Oct. 19 and Nov. 18, 2019, more than half of the respondents believe that capitalism, as it is now, causes more harm than good, and that democracy is losing its effectiveness.
“We find ourselves far from Francis Fukuyama’s 1992 book, ‘The End of History,’ which touted the triumph of liberal democracy,” said Richard Edelman, CEO of the company.
