Given the current open global competition between China and the US for global supremacy, it is interesting to gauge how successful they will be in winning hearts and minds around the world and especially in the Middle East where emotions run high. For political reasons.
Policymakers, observers and businessmen who have worked with both countries often wonder if China is as attractive to Jordanians as America. Appeal is measured through a number of methods, including asking how people feel about a country, asking them to describe the level of political, economic, cultural, military, and security ties between countries, and asking them to rank countries in favorable terms.
These are useful and important to know. However, it is more informative to link countries’ perceptions to the most essential needs for survival (beyond food and shelter), such as health care, education and vocational training. If one believes in the county health care system, formed by education and living by professional skills, the country is certainly attractive.
For example, Jordanians may dislike a particular policy of a country because they disagree with US policy on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but this position does not color their views of the system’s ability to do good in other areas.
In a recent survey by NAMA Strategic Intelligence Solutions, we tried to address the issue of appeal by asking Jordanians to choose “one” of these countries: US, Egypt, Turkey, UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Canada, UAE, Russia, Qatar. , Japan, or China for education, vocational training, health care, and vacations abroad.
Jordanians trust the American system for health, education and vocational training more than Germany, Britain, Canada, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey and China.
Survey results of 1,505 adult respondents interviewed face-to-face in October 2022 show that the US is the top choice for the top three activities, with 18.3 percent of Jordanians indicating the US as their destination for education. , 18.9 percent for vocational training, 33.2 percent for health treatment and only 4.9 percent for vacations.
The US’s rival China, however, lags behind on the list of countries and is ranked 0.3 percent for education, 2.2 percent for vocational training, 0.5 percent for health care and 0.1 percent for vacations.
Egypt was positively identified, especially for education, with 12.3 percent of Jordanians saying they would go to Egypt to get an education, followed by Turkey at 11.8 percent. Turkey is especially desirable for holidays; 51 percent of Jordanians indicated they travel to Turkey for vacation, compared to 12 percent in Saudi Arabia. Germany is particularly attractive for health treatment at 11.4 percent of Jordanians (second choice after the US), followed by Egypt and the UK at 8 percent each. For vocational training, the UAE ranks second (after the US), with 10 percent of Jordanians, followed by Saudi Arabia and Germany with 8 percent each.
In conclusion, Jordanians and perhaps others (to be tested) trust the American system for the necessities of life – health, education and vocational training – more than Germany, Britain, Canada, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey and China.
Fares Bryzat is chairman of NAMA Strategic Intelligence Solutions.
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