Chinese attitudes towards Australia have plummeted amid souring tensions between the two nations, according to a new poll released by Beijing.
The poll conducted by state-controlled newspaper The Global Times found China's impression of Australia has fallen by 9.7 per cent in the past year.
More than 40 per cent of the 2,067 respondents considered Australia to be a military, political or ideological threat.
Beijing has in the past 12 months launched a series of damaging trade strikes against Australia after Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
'The average Chinese attitude toward Australia turned out to be 55.6 points – on a scale of 0 to 100 – in the poll,' the report said.
China's impression of Australia has fallen by 9.7 per cent in the past year, according to a new poll conducted by a state-controlled newspaper. Pictured a queue of people on their phones in Hong Kong on Thursday
The poll surveyed 2,067 respondents across 10 Chinese cities between the age of 18 and 70 on a range of China-Australia diplomatic issues
Chinese soldiers during a parade in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 2019. Beijing and Canberra have been at the centre of a tense trade dispute in the past 12 months after Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic
'[That figure dropped] from 65.3 points from 2020 when the Global Times Research Center did a similar survey for the first time.'
The poll surveyed 2,067 respondents across 10 Chinese cities between the age of 18 and 70.
When asked to name the biggest obstacle affecting China-Australia relations, 45.6 per cent blamed factors involving the US.
Another 35.4 per cent said ideological differences between China and Australia were the cause of the rift.
Australian Studies Center of East China Normal University director Chen Hong hit out at the Morrison government's rhetoric for inflaming
