Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - China has overtaken Iran and become America's greatest enemy, this according to a Gallup Poll released today that ranks the top ten most hostile nations, according to the American public. China and Iran are followed by North Korea, Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
In the first survey of this type in 2001, carried out ten years after the Persian Gulf War, Americans named Iraq as the greatest US enemy by a large margin.
By 2005, with the United States nearly two years into the Iraq war, Iraq and North Korea tied as the greatest enemy. The following year, Iran surged to the top of the list and remained there until this year.
Iran's drop in this year's poll has been accompanied by increases in respondents naming North Korea (from 10 per cent in 2012 to 16 per cent), Russia (from 2 per cent to 9 per cent,) and Syria (from less than 1 per cent to 3 per cent), as America's greatest enemy.
However, China now stands at the top for 53 per cent of respondents, who by a margin of 51 per cent also consider it the leading economic power.
For analysts, survey results show a divided public opinion, following the rise of multiple threats albeit with a majority still lined up against a single nation.
Iran's improved position is also due to last November's agreement between Tehran and several Western nations on its nuclear programme and its "neutral" position in the Syrian conflict.