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ALMOST half of Australians believe that China will become a military threat to Australia within 20 years, prompting record support for the US alliance.
According to the 2010 Lowy Institute foreign policy poll, 46 per cent of people think China will be a threat, with 19 per cent of them rating the possibility as "very likely".
And 55 per cent of the 1001 people surveyed named China as the world's top economic power, compared with 32 per cent for the United States.
The reality is that China is Australia's number one trading partner, but its economy rates number four, behind the EU, US and Japan.
While 73 per cent of people regard China's growth as good for Australia, 57 per cent said the Government had allowed too much investment from China, and 69 per cent said China's aim was to dominate Asia.
Of those surveyed, 55 per cent wanted Australia to join with other countries to limit China's influence.
While Australians saw America's economic power as waning, they were still strongly supportive (86 per cent) of the Anzus Treaty and a military alliance with Uncle Sam. That was up from 63 per cent just three years ago.
Lowy Poll Project director Fergus Hanson said the results showed people were positive about China's economic growth but fearful of its military aims.
"The two sides of the China relationship play in to the rising support for the US alliance that is evident in the poll," Mr Hanson said.
Climate change
The sixth poll from the Lowy think tank also showed that Australians remained committed to acting on greenhouse gases - but they don't want to have to pay too much and they don't want Australia to get ahead of the rest of the world.
Of those polled, 72 per cent wanted Australia to take action, but 66 per cent were against taking steps that had negative economic consequences for the nation.
Meanwhile, a majority of those surveyed (54 per cent) said Australia should not be involved in the Afghanistan campaign, up from 46 per cent in 2007.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's foreign policy priority of winning a seat on the UN Security Council didn't rate too highly with punters, and just 34 per cent said they thought it was important.
That placed it at number 11 on the list of 12 goals for Australia, just ahead of seeking to abolish the death penalty in the region.
Australians fear war with China, says Lowy Institute survey | Perth Now