Australians believe China is already more powerful in the region than the US and have a more neutral approach to the two competing powers than other key Asian countries, according to a major regional research project.
The research finds a high degree of consensus that America's power is waning and China will replace it as the world's leading superpower.
The analysis of the research released on Wednesday concludes that: "Australia's relative distance from China - coupled with the fact that China is Australia's largest trading partner - sees Australia perhaps less anguished by China's rise, and Australian respondents less willing to express a strong preference for continued strong ties with the United States." 
The study by a group of regional think tanks - including Sydney University's United States Studies Centre - comes days after China's move to exert more influence in Australia through media deals and the US urging more Australian involvement in managing China's maritime territorial claims.
The polling of people in Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia on the US and regional issues shows that Australian views are sometimes more aligned with the Chinese than the other countries.
Sixty-nine per cent of Australians think China has the most regional power today, while only 22 per cent think the US is the most powerful. This compares with 56 per cent of Chinese seeing China is most powerful, while 40 per cent think the US is most powerful. By contrast a plurality of people in Japan (48 per cent) Korea (60 per cent) and Indonesia (48 per cent) think the US is the most powerful.
But in 10 years all five countries think China will be the most powerful, although the Australian figure drops to 64 per cent as 13 per cent of Australians think India will be the most powerful.
People in all countries want a stronger overall relationship with both the US and China but the desire for a stronger relationship with China relative to the US is the higher in Australia.
Australians also want a stronger trade relationship with both the US and China, although the pro-China feeling is less than for the overall measure, even though China is Australia's biggest trading partner. Nevertheless, Australians still think China is more likely to cause a conflict in the region, with 17 per cent nominating it compared with 10 per cent for the US. By contrast, Koreans and Indonesians think the US is more likely than China to start a regional conflict.
In a big contrast, 37 per cent of Japanese think China will start a conflict, compared with only 3 per cent who think the US will.
A key finding from the research is how Australian thinking on regional issues is not in sync with Japan (and to a lesser extent Korea), even though recent Australian governments have been building closer defence ties with Japan and in association with the US.
Even on the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which the Australian government is celebrating as a triumph, 51 per cent of Australians say they haven't heard of it, which is similar to the levels in China, Indonesia and Korea which are not members. However, in Japan only 5 per cent of people say they haven't heard of it.
Overall, 47 per cent of Australians say Islamic extremism is the biggest regional issue facing the country, followed by 29 per cent who nominate an economic slowdown in China and only 4 per cent who nominate disruption of trade in the South China Sea, where China is staking out territorial claims.
Forty-two per cent of Australians think the US alliance neither helps nor hinders Australia in the region, 20 per cent believe the alliance helps to an extent, and 40 per cent believe being allied with the US hinders Australia's relationships in Asia.