WASHINGTON (AP) – The State Department acknowledged Thursday that it has a lot of work to do to overcome negative perceptions about the United States overseas.

The comment by spokesman Adam Ereli followed release of a poll by the Pew Research Center that showed 11 of 16 countries surveyed had a more favourable view of China than the US.

The 11 were Britain, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Russia, Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Jordan and Indonesia.

“Clearly, with or without this poll we know we have a public diplomacy challenge, and that challenge is not lessening by the day,” Ereli said.

He added that the United States is trying to combat the U.S. image problem, citing the frequent travels of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was ending a six-day swing through the Middle East and Europe on Thursday.

“We are getting out there. We are being open and out front about what we think, what we believe in, what we stand for, and present a case for our actions and our beliefs,” Ereli said.

“We are trying to listen and hear what people think and hear what people think about us.”