this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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China surpassed the United States in global approval ratings in 2025, with a median of 36% approving of China’s leadership, compared with 31% for the U.S. China’s five-percentage-point advantage over the U.S. is the widest Gallup has recorded in China’s favor in nearly 20 years.

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[–] frunch@lemmy.world 46 points 1 day ago (1 children)

China didn't surpass the USA, the USA slunk behind China. They didn't get better, but we got a lot worse ✨

[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Their score went up 4 points, and they're almost even rated now with their disapproval rating. So yeah they are doing great PR.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 hours ago

no surprise, tiktok did wonders

China: thank god the bar moved soo much lower

[–] Lanske@lemmy.world 7 points 21 hours ago

Thats what you get when you vote in a nutcase as your president.......twice

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 31 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Considering China is an authoritarian regime that has no issue with "reeducating" and "disappearing" millions of its own citizens and is bullying its near neighbours making claims over their land and is threatening (with actions) to forcibly reintegrate Taiwan, to be more popular globally than America is no mean feat.

Same way people are supporting Iran over them, even though they are objectively terrible from a moral and ethical standpoint. The world has quickly disregarded the fact they only a couple of months ago they noisily and publicly executed 10s of thousands of protesters.

America is now more unpopular than them. Thats how deep they have sunk

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The US is literally doing all the things you're accusing China of. The only reason it gets a pass on the massive carceral state, the largest in the world by far, is because its cultural industry has so normalized it.

The big difference is that China is a net positive when it comes to global stability and addressing climate change, whereas the US is not.

Those of us who care about things like democracy and human rights have a lot of digging to do.

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Last I checked the USA wasnt forcing (yet) god knows how many Muslims into reeducation camps.

But yes I agree they're sliding into the depths of authoritarianism.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I was talking about the US carceral state, i.e., the inhumane American exception from the global norm that is considered "normal" in the US. The US system is slightly more intelligent than blanketly imprisoning a population. No. First the US marginalizes and impoverishes them, then over-polices them, then finds little justifications to label them criminals, then does the imprisonment. That this is entirely normalized and nuanced and cast as complex in a country that considers itself "a city on the hill" or whatever bullshit, is irrelevant. If China had Hollywood and good copaganda TV shows, they would have also convinced the world that their carceral system is normal.

[–] Tarambor@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The world has quickly disregarded the fact they only a couple of months ago they noisily and publicly executed 10s of thousands of protesters.

Wasn't 10,000s if you're referring to Iran. Maybe stop watching Fox News.

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

3000 admitted to by the Iranian government which is a disgrace no matter how you want to swing it

7000 named and verified by HRANA with another 17,000 under investigation https://www.iranintl.com/en/202602021839.

Over 30,000 based on eye witness testimony from doctors, morgue and cemetery workers and other witnesses.

Thats from the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/27/iran-protests-death-toll-disappeared-bodies-mass-burials-30000-dead

So no, nothing to do with Fox News. Maybe stop trying to defend a murderous regime eh?

[–] marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

HRANA is quite literally a CIA-Backed NGO btw. You fell for it again.

[–] aaa999@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

this dude found out that the moon landing was an american public relations operation and concluded that the moon must not be real

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Whatever you say mate.

Just casually ignore everything else, including the 3000+ murders the government admits to

[–] marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Hardly murders when the CIA has already admitted to trying to instigate another colour revolution and has been consistently trying to do so for the last 60 years.

Maybe don't try to rise up and overthrow your government when over 70% of the people approve of your government over western liberal democracy?

Maybe don't take AKs to your local riot when less than .001% of your neighborhood, much less country is participating in the riot?

Maybe, like all organic revolutions, organize and get popular support before attempting to rise up instead of accepting CIA funding and weaponry to do Israel's bidding?

Yeah, it sucks Mossad had agents in Iran, and it sucks they were able to get the most disenfranchised people to essentially kill themselves using the government as a weapon. We should condemn the US and Israel's role in this.

But maybe the Iranian people, and this will be a shock to someone like you who openly posts CIA propaganda, DON'T WANT WHITE PEOPLE'S HELP.

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk -3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yawn.

I'm assuming you are off to live in the utopian theocractic paradise of Iran then?

[–] marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

It is amazing how simplistic your world view is; truly it is impressive how little you seem to care to expand your knowledge or world view.

A place being different does not mean you need to ride in on your high horse and foment chaos and destruction in the vague hope they'll be more amicable to your corporate masters.

Especially being on a .uk domain you should know that YOUR COUNTRY IS THE SOLE REASON IRAN IS A THEOCRATIC REPUBLIC. The sole reason. The literal only one.

If you people would have just accepted not having them as a colonial resource state with a puppet regime and allowed them to nationalize their resources instead of letting BP continue to rape their land and air while paying them next to nothing, YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A WESTERN LIBERAL DEMOCRACY IN IRAN STILL.

But no, despite having a stable and developing Iran, you people decided it would be less harmful to install a monarchy and then when that didn't work you people decided to do another revolution except oops, you failed and now it's a theocratic republic.

If Western powers had left Iran alone to develop into socialism, yes the UK would be poorer, yes Israel would have actual threats in the region, and yes the oil market in the 1970s would have been even more anti-western than it was; but Iran would be a beacon of democratic socialism on par with Norway.

BUT YOU PEOPLE DIDN'T WANT THAT. Just like your criticisms now ring hollow as you advocate for civil war and revolution yet again despite knowing your false nonsense is the reason you criticize the current government.

You, being a citizen of the UK, US, or Israel have no moral high ground. You are much more immoral than any muslim theocrat in iran. You are worse than any terrorist.

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

None of this changes the fact that Iran just murdered thousands of people.

Lemme guess, you think Russia were justified in their invasion of Ukraine and Kim Jong Un is an alright guy.

[–] marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It is a complete mystery how the western imperial mind works.

What does Iran defending itself against Israel have to do with Russia's Imperialism or North Korea's defense against the ongoing invasion by the US?

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Easy.

You don't believe Iran is a despitic theocratic regime capable of murdering thousands of its own citizens.

Its not a stretch to assume you believe Russia is on the right side of history as well.

Also, for some reason you think I support the american attacks. I dont. Like I wrote in my first post.

And somehow you think America's attacks mean Iran is innocent.

[–] marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today -3 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

The American attacks were the protests, that's the point you're not understanding or refusing to acknowledge. They were not organic protests. I doubt most that participated were citizens, especially when 99% of the coverage was prewritten by NED-linked organizations.

Iran isn't despotic, the word you're looking for. If it were, then the American decapitation strikes would have ended Iran.

It didn't, because that's not what the country is. Its military isn't linear, there is no single person in charge of the military or the government. There never has been. They have watched the failures of nationstates like that.

Hence why the Iranian defensive strikes have happened no matter what 'leader' the US has designated as a leader and has killed. And they will continue until both the US and Israel are out of the region or they get security guarantees from the EU against the US and Israel.

Because there isn't a party in charge.

There isn't a person in charge.

There isn't a family in charge.

This isn't the UK.

This isn't the US.

This is a theocratic republic with decentralized authority and control; a set of guiding principles.

It's why Muslim women are completely free to do whatever with their hair in Tehran and Shiraz, but would be heavily punished for not wearing head coverings in Urmia.

There isn't a central authority. There isn't a single set of rules, much to the chagrin of the parliament who have tried to better unify and align the disparate laws.

If you can't get basic facts right because you have NO UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUBJECT MATTER, because you have NO ACTUAL LOCAL INFORMATION, because you ARE BRAINWASHED BY CIA PROPAGANDA THROUGH NED-OPERATED CIA FRONTS LIKE HRWNA, then you cannot possibly think you have any weight in your words when you incorrectly and plainly falsely throw around nonsense that you want others to take seriously.

This war should have shown you that NOTHING YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IRAN WAS CORRECT, and maybe you should question the sources that mislead you to your current beliefs. But instead you're doubling and tripling down on your owners' and masters' propaganda and pretending you have any possible idea of what's happening in the wider world.

Feel free to prove me wrong in any way, by the way, with any non-NED linked source. Literally any. If neither Mossad nor the CIA have touched the source I'll happily concede whatever point, or I'll point out the direct lineage between those groups and the source you post.

[–] Jax@sh.itjust.works 2 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

The American attacks were the protests, that's the point you're not understanding or refusing to acknowledge. They were not organic protests. I doubt most that participated were citizens, especially when 99% of the coverage was prewritten by NED-linked organizations.

I've just been reading along this thread and I think this is the part I don't understand.

Is the idea here that the protests were Americans? I'm not sure I understand what you mean by 'The American attacks were the protests'.

Beyond that, if we accept strictly what Iran has released about the number of protestors killed it is still an incredible amount of violence for a two day period. The fact that the Iranian regime released the same number, 3117, for number of deaths on multiple different occasions regarding these protests is odd — it would indicate to me that the number is false and probably higher.

Simply trying to understand what your point is here — I don't necessarily disagree with most of what you've said. Specifically I agree with you that if we'd just left Iran alone things would have turned out much differently and much more positively for them.

[–] marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today -1 points 21 hours ago

Yes. I would look up the history of colour revolutions, the arab spring, and the CIA's and Mossad's extensive, ridiculously long involvement in generating these 'protests' as NED-Backed organizations call them. I would provide links but anytime I do they're called propaganda so I encourage you to find your own sources since all of this is declassified; and don't let 'declassified' fool you into 'they stopped doing it.'

The primary modus operandi is to find anyone in a country that opposes the current status quo and start feeding them propaganda, weapons, and money. Usually directly via agents already in place in that country. They then take the most disenfranchised people to start direct actions, with usually two prongs. 'peaceful' protests, i.e. a stripped down version of the extremist ideology they have started to foment that is more palatable to the general public with far less expansive goals, think the modern white-washed version of MLK's ideology compared to Malcom X's.

The playbook is then to radicalize larger and larger portions of the mediocre population into the militant population; so that when violence is triggered (usually by getting the radicalized population to instigate violence as we saw in Tienanmen Square) to provoke a response.

If the government does not respond with force, the movement grows more bold until it does, or until all foreign assets are arrested (why hong kong did not turn into a Tienanmen).

If the government does respond with force, this is greatly exaggerated internationally via NED-backed propaganda organizations, all of which either don't care to investigate the actual cause, or are explicitly directed to ignore the actual cause: violence from extremists against the general public and/or government.

If this all sounds vaguely like what the US government says Al Qaeda does................................................ I'll let you draw your own conclusions with the hint that projection is the most common form of fascist propaganda.

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 2 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

The new ruler is literally the son of the old one.

Everything else you wrote is nonsense. I'm bored of you.

[–] voaw@lemmy.world 0 points 17 hours ago

Love that your ultimate response to any argument is "I'm bored of you" because you can't bother to try to inform yourself and are simply pretending to know all about world affairs by going off vibes 🙄

[–] marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today -1 points 22 hours ago

Are you talking about the spiritual leader who has as much influence as the Pope does in the US?

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not particularly fond of either of them

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Same here, but the preference used to be towards USA, that is no longer the case, because we can't trust USA anymore. China is far from perfect, but at least they are somewhat trustworthy, and have declared that they respect international law, which USA has abandoned completely. Threatening wars against several allies, started an illegal war against Iran and committed several war crimes, and blocked Cuba from getting essential energy supplies to maintain their society, which is causing even hospitals to lack power.
The list of atrocities for the past year by USA is long, and the American system and population have failed completely in preventing these things from happening. In that light China seems like the clearly lesser evil to most of the rest of the world.

[–] Jax@sh.itjust.works 8 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

and have declared that they respect international law

Because it's advantageous to do so currently. Let's not willfully ignore their illegal fishing fleets that have been operating for decades, among other things (like the whole plastic recycling debacle).

They do not care about international law. They care about making you think they do.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

The real problem is also that China will probably become even more powerful than USA, and being so powerful feeds arrogance.
I'm just hoping China will see how arrogance is now destroying USA's global dominance because they are alienating their allies.

I am not aware of the fishing and plastic things you mention, but we've had lots of fishing issues here in Europe too. Even between countries that are fiends.

[–] Jax@sh.itjust.works 5 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Well, they've been illegally fishing from internationally protected zones for decades so there's that. The U.S. also had to cancel all of its contracts with China to recycle plastic because they either dumped it in the ocean or subcontracted with other Asian countries who dumped it in the ocean. You can determine whether or not that actually violates international law if you want, I would assume it does not. You can also be the judge on whether or not that should be against international law, if it is not. Plenty to take into consideration there, like how recycling plastic just produces more microplastic.

I'm just hoping China will see how arrogance is now destroying USA's global dominance because they are alienating their allies.

China, the country not the place, is made of human beings. I don't have much hope that they will escape that trap.

[–] UnpopularCrow@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

There are some important, but not surprising takeaways from this article.

  1. World approval ratings for the US are dependent on political party. That is, they are much higher when democrats are in power.

  2. The world view on China has also primarily decreased over the past 20 years, however with Trump, the U.S. was able to win the race to the bottom.

  3. You will not be surprised by the countries who have higher approval ratings for the U.S. since Trump’s second term. China doesn’t have any data, but I’m certain they too are very happy Trump got re-elected. A destabilized US is a happy Russia and China.

[–] OpenStars@piefed.social 10 points 1 day ago

(Anakin Padme meme) It's because China has improved so much lately, r-r-right?!?

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Edges past

China has a 5 point lead in approval, and 11 point less disapproval than USA!
I think that's a bit more than edging past. 5% is statistically more than significant, 11 point higher disapproval for USA is catastrophic for their desire to control global affairs.
It's also notable that USA has declined the most among allies, meaning USA basically doesn't have any allies that feel comfortable about it anymore. All allies are reluctant allies at best, apart from Israel that decidedly is exploiting USA. The very thing Trump and Vance has been so pissed about other allies doing even though they actually didn't, but actually contributed to US global dominance, that is now coming to an abrupt end.

It's not the world that is splitting between USA and China, but the world that is moving away from USA, and accept China more.

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

People know the U.S. better than almost any other country. The U.S. is very loud while China is rather quiet. And that‘s not from a lack of trying from China‘s side. It makes sense people feel stronger about someone so loud. Someone who had influenced the world so much with pop culture and politics.

Personally I still prefer the U.S. over China but that‘s a very low bar. As a European I want to be more independent from both.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Luckily in EU we all want independence from USA now, and we are working together to achieve it, and we even have allies outside EU, who are eager to cooperate with on the same thing. Canada and Japan have both joined the EU SAFE program, and Starmer of UK has pledged tighter cooperation with EU on security too.

I admit I'm beginning to tend more towards China, because they are way more trustworthy and respect national sovereignty more.
But China does have some pretty serious issues too. But at least China has been moving in the right direction for most of the past ½ century, while USA has been slipping regularly since Carter lost to Reagan, and Reagan became president in 1981, just short of half a century ago.
Even Obama who was somewhat a bright spot, had serious problems keeping within international law, with illegal intelligence even against allies, and illegal drone attacks into 3 countries, costing about 70,000 civilian lives.