(Yicai Global) March 9 -- Some 53 percent of U.S. citizens have a favorable view of China, setting a new record in almost three decades, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported, citing a survey by the polling company Gallup Inc.

China's positive ratings have significantly increased over the past two years, rising above 50 percent from 44 percent in 2016. It is the third time in the poll's four-decade record that a majority of U.S. adults have a positive view of China, Gallup said. Democrats are more likely to rate China positively as 59 percent of the Democrat US citizens surveyed early last month held a favorable view, compared with 42 percent of the Republicans.

Age breakdown has also yielded interesting results in the Gallup survey. Some 67 percent of people aged 18-34 rated China positively, compared with favorable ratings of 54 percent from those aged 35-54, and 39 percent from people above 55, the report said.

The previous two high ratings occurred in 1979, with 64 percent of people having a favorable view when the U.S. established diplomatic relations with China, and in early 1989, with a 72 percent positive rating when former U.S. President George H. W. Bush visited the country, Xinhua reported.

Japan's favorable rating rose to 87 percent, reaching a new high, showed the Gallup survey results. Japan is not considered as the main economic rival of the U.S. as it used to be in the 1990s, during which, its rating dropped below 50 percent, analysts commented. Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada also received high favorable ratings in the Gallup survey.