About 70 percent of Japanese and 60 percent of Chinese have negative impressions of each others' countries on food safety, historical differences and a bilateral dispute over resource development, according to the results of a poll released Saturday.

The annual survey found that while the ratio of Japanese who view China negatively was nearly unchanged from the previous year, the proportion of Chinese with negative feelings toward Japan fell by more than 10 points, apparently reflecting more positive coverage of Japan through the Chinese media.

The survey, jointly conducted by state-run newspaper The China Daily and Japanese think tank Genron NPO, polled 1,000 Japanese across Japan and 1,617 Chinese across five major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, who were 18 or older in June and July.