cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/6484299
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2015/06/23/1-americas-global-image/
America’s image is mostly positive among the Asian nations polled. Particularly large majorities see the U.S. favorably in the Philippines (92%), South Korea (84%) and Vietnam (77%).
It’s from 2015 but more recent polls have found similar data IIRC
79% of people polled in Vietnam chose the US in the “Preferred alignment choice in U.S.-China rivalry” which is a different metric obviously but still points towards the same idea
Edit: According to Luna Oi, Pew Research Center is a neoliberal think tank that cannot be trusted on anything about Vietnam
Reminds me of an old video I saw of Putin saying he’d hoped Russia could be considered a Western country as well one day; basically it’s a lot of people who are in deep denial of what they’re dealing with.
Honestly consider places like Iran or Gaza/West bank; they make deals with the US thinking America is earnest only to be stabbed in the back, for their willingness to cooperate to be used as a weapon against them (for example America convincing Palestinians not to insist on the UN recognizing Palestine as a member and to just accept observer status for the time being). Heck, you even have recently with America convincing Western Europe to stop buying Russian oil and to buy American only to hike up the price.
I also think the US played a huge role in liberation by fighting Nazis and Imperial Japan during WWII so they gained quite a bit of reputation. Still, the Cold War was when the USSR gained prominence until its collapse, after which it has been an open season for neoliberalism. There is simply no alternative to it at the moment.