China is well considered even if many are wary of its growing power

Its image has not recovered in Western European countries, the US-based Pew Research Center found.

In none of the 16 countries surveyed, the US included, does a majority of the public think the war leading to Saddam Hussein's removal made the world safer.

But hostility towards the US has eased in some parts of the Muslim world.

"It's amazing when you see the European public rating the United States so poorly, especially in comparison with China," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which carried out the survey.

China is well considered in Europe and Asia, although there is considerable wariness about its growing economic and military power.

Solid majorities in every European nation except Turkey would not like to see China rival the US as a military superpower, the survey said.

'Hardworking'

A majority of the public in 10 of the 15 countries surveyed holds unfavourable opinions of the US.

President George W Bush's calls for greater democracy in the Middle East and US aid to tsunami victims in Asia have been welcomed in many countries.

"We should keep plugging away on democracy," said former Senator John C Danforth, who co-chairs the Pew Global Attitudes Project with former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

"But we need to do a better job of communicating what we're trying to do."

However, the survey finds that America continues to be viewed as largely indifferent to the interests of other countries in setting its foreign policies.

The US image remains relatively poor in Muslim countries like Jordan and Pakistan, but has bounced back in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country.

In most countries surveyed, Americans are seen as "inventive" and "hardworking", but they are also seen by many in both Western and predominately Muslim countries as "violent" and "greedy" - a judgement with which many Americans agree.

The survey was conducted among nearly 17,000 people from 20 April to 31 May with samples of about 1,000 in most countries, with more interviews in India and China and slightly fewer than 1,000 in the European countries.

The margin of sampling error ranged from two percentage points to four percentage points, depending on the sample size.