The Foreign Service Journal, May 2005

12 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 5 International Poll Finds China Viewed Positively Results of a poll released March 5 show that China is viewed as playing a positive role in world affairs by a plu- rality of respondents in 22 nations — in fact, a more positive role than either Russia or the U.S. But while a majority of respondents welcomed China’s increasing economic power in the world, they reacted negatively to the prospect of a significant increase in Chinese military power. The survey was conducted in December 2004 for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland. A majority or plurality of citizens in 15 of the 22 nations view China as having a mainly positive influence in the world. On average, across all countries polled, almost half, or 48 percent, see China’s influence as posi- tive and just 30 percent see it as nega- tive, with another 22 percent noncom- mittal. In only three countries does a plurality view Chinese influence as negative — Germany (47 percent), the U.S. (46 percent) and Poland (33 percent). In no country did a majori- ty of the public have a negative view of China. Interestingly, young people (ages 18 to 29) worldwide are more prone to view China positively (58 percent, on average). Even in neighboring Asian nations that have historically been very suspi- cious of China, views are relatively benign. In India, Indonesia and the Philippines 66 to 70 percent view China positively. South Korea is divid- ed (49 percent positive, 47 percent negative), and in Japan the majority is noncommittal, while 22 percent say China is having a negative influence on the world and 25 percent say it is positive. The countries most concerned about the potential growth of Chinese military power are Germany, Australia, Japan, Spain, the U.S. and Italy. One country in which a majority view increased Chinese military power pos- itively is India. For the complete report on this survey, see www.pipa.org . IP Telephony: Call Home for Free? Whether you’re posted in Pristina or Pretoria, wouldn’t it be great to be able to call home whenever you want- ed and talk for as long as you liked for nothing? You can do just that with VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, a revolutionary technology that may eventually replace the traditional phone system entirely. Today, VoIP is beginning to come into its own, not only in government and business but for personal use as well, where world- wide communication with no or low phone bills is a major attraction. VoIP can turn a standard Internet connection into a way to place free phone calls. Using free VoIP software that is available for the download to make computer-to-computer phone calls via the Internet, you can bypass the phone company entirely. All you need is a microphone, speakers and a sound card in addition to your Inter- net connection. To make calls from your computer to a regular telephone you can sign up with a VoIP service provider such as Vonage, AT&T CallVantage or a num- ber of others. A monthly rate of $25 or so gets you unlimited calls any- where in the U.S. and Canada along with generally excellent international rates (for instance, 3 cents per minute to London and Hong Kong, 6 cents to Sao Paolo and Copenhagen, 13 cents to New Delhi and 18 cents to Manila). Also, most VoIP companies include caller ID, call waiting, call transfer, repeat dial, return call and three-way calling in their service plan at no extra charge. According to a survey by the Pew C YBERNOTES 50 Years Ago... The new Foreign Service legislation is an important milestone in the long process of building a career Foreign Service adequate to the country’s needs. It includes a number of provisions which rectify financial inequities. … With the new legislation, we can anticipate that our situation is now to be equalized, insofar as this can be done, with the position of those in public service at home. – From the Editorial, “Amendments to the Foreign Service Act,” FSJ , May 1955.