People visit the Merlion Park in Singapore on April 7, 2022. Singapore government has earmarked nearly 500 million Singapore dollars (about 367.55 million U.S. dollars) to boost the recovery of its tourism industry, said Alvin Tan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, on Wednesday at the Tourism Industry Conference. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua)

While the Chinese public shares high interest in ASEAN members, Singapore has become the country that attracted them the most, according to a recent survey jointly conducted by the Global Times Research Center and Centre for Chinese Foreign Strategy Studies, Renmin University of China. 

Such a high level of affection is derived from Singapore's balanced policy of mediation—— balancing between major powers such as China and the US, which has been acknowledged by the general public in China, experts said. 

The average score of affection and interest for Singapore is above 4, with the highest score of 5, followed by Malaysia (3.8) and Thailand (3.8）, the survey showed, which was conducted between March 15 and April 15 in 31 Chinese provinces, regions and municipalities among the general public aged 18 to 69 and some college students.

The survey collected 2,012 valid questionnaires from the general public and 1,150 from the college students.

"Such interest in Singapore is in line with the general perception," Lü Xiang, research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. He noted that as a Chinese-dominated society, Singapore shares many similarities with China. 

Chinese students surveyed are also most attracted by Singapore, followed by Thailand and Malaysia, the survey showed. 

Especially in recent years, Singapore's attitude toward China has been changing with the rise of China, reflecting the constant adjustment in the country's diplomatic stance in line with the global situation and trying its best to avoid becoming a "pawn" of the US in containing China, Lü noted.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reminded Washington in April that if the US cuts off China, "the price is very high," as he also emphasized that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework should be built "on a win-win basis," and "as a way to engage the region and not just on strategic or security and potentially hostile basis." 

This was not the first time that Lee raised kind reminders to Washington, as the Singaporean leader has expressed similar views many times before. 

By excluding the COVID epidemic factor, over 85 percent of the respondents were willing to travel to ASEAN and Singapore remains the most popular destination, according to the survey. 

About 45 percent of the people surveyed hoped to study in Singapore and 37 percent wanted to work there. And around 28 percent hope to travel to the country, the survey showed.