Saturday, September 23 2006 11:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Notwithstanding recent CBMs and peace initiative between India and Pakistan, people from both the countries continue to view each other in an 'unfavourable and 'negative' light, according to an international survey report.

The two South Asian neighbours are not alone in their acrimonious relationship, with people from China and Japan also showing equal dislike for each other.

The report also found that Indians 'overwhelmingly' support improved relations with the United States (70 per cent), and 75 per cent of Indians who know about the proposed nuclear deal between the two countries support it.

But a majority of Indians believe China will overtake the US as the dominant world power, although the Chinese themselves were less optimistic about it.

According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, which was released on Thursday, 50 per cent of Indian respondents find Pakistan 'unfavourable' while only 33 per cent gave them the 'favourable' tag. Among the Pakistani respondents, 67 per cent regard Indians as unfavourable.

Among their other neighbours, both the Chinese and Japanese express general unfavourable views of Pakistan, while Chinese tend to feel negetively toward India. Also, more than half of American respondents had unfavourable views of Pakistan.

The six-nation survey conducted in India, Pakistan, China, Japan, the US and Russia -- found that China's growing military strength was seen as threatening by neighbours India, Russia and Japan. Even its burgeoning economy was considered a bad thing by half of Indians.