In today’s great-power conflict, many observers cast China as almost a mirror image of the Soviet Union, shaping the narrative that we are living through a “Second Cold War.” Yet one crucial difference between the Soviet Union then and China now is almost never acknowledged: China enjoys a far more favorable image among Western publics than the Soviet Union ever did. Throughout the Cold War, positive views of the USSR rarely exceeded 20% in Europe, whereas in 2025 favorability toward China in some European countries is approaching 50%. A shift is especially pronounced among younger generations, with major social media influencers such as Hasan Piker and IShowSpeed traveling to China in 2025 and telling a positive story about China to their tens of millions of followers – despite accusations of propaganda – focused on China's cutting-edge innovation in robotics and vehicles.
