TOKYO: Over 90 percent of Japanese people have an unfavorable impression of China, a survey conducted in August and September has shown.

The proportion of such Japanese respondents rose 4.9 percentage points from the previous year to 92.2 percent, according to the annual survey conducted in Japan and China by groups including Genron NPO, a Japanese private organization. The proportion was the second highest since the survey began in 2005.

The latest survey results were released Tuesday.

Of the Japanese respondents with a negative image of China, 57.2 percent, or the largest group, attributed such an impression to China’s intrusion into Japanese territorial airspace and waters around the Japanese-administrated Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which are claimed by China.

The proportion of Chinese respondents who said they have a negative impression of Japan stood at 62.9 percent, up 0.3 point, and that of those who said they have a good impression came to 37 percent, up 1.8 points.

Among the overall Chinese respondents, 47.6 percent said they are worried about the release of treated water containing tritium, a radioactive substance, into the ocean from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station in northeastern Japan.

While 36.7 percent of Japanese respondents cited the treated water issue as an obstacle to the development of Japan-China relations, only 5.8 percent of Chinese respondents gave the same answer.

Asked about the Japan-China peace and friendship treaty, which marked its 45th anniversary this year, 41.2 percent of Japanese and 59.1 percent of Chinese respondents said it is not functioning.

“With bilateral (human) exchanges and government-to-government dialogue remaining inactive, people’s impressions of the other (country) are formed based on news reports,” Genron NPO President Yasushi Kudo said.

On the worsening of Japanese people’s sentiment toward China, Kudo said, “The sentiment will improve if exchanges between the two countries increase.”

The survey covered a total of some 2,500 people aged 18 or older.

JIJI Press