More than two-thirds of Chinese Internet users rejected a recent claim by US Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman that Web users here would become a force to "take China down," according to a poll by the Global Times.

Among the 51,000 people polled, 70.9 percent rejected Huntsman's idea, with about 11.1 percent supporting the claim and the rest saying they were "not sure."

As for what constituted the "main force" among Chinese Internet users, about 77.2 percent of participants said it was patriotism, and 73.5 percent reckoned that the Internet has become one of the major factors that will shape the country's future.

The online survey was conducted Friday by the Global Times website, huanqiu.com, and its poll center.

Among the participants, 84.6 percent are between 18 and 49 years old, 47.5 percent received higher education and overwhelmingly 94.8 percent are male.

During a Republican presidential candidate debate on November 12, Huntsman, the former US ambassador to China, said, "We should be reaching out to our allies and constituencies within China. They're called the young people. They're called the Internet generation."

"They are bringing about change, the likes of which is gonna take China down," Huntsman claimed.

Yuan Peng, director of the Institute of American Studies under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that Huntsman's statement carried a political intention catering to election needs.

"Although Chinese Web users complain a lot about social problems such as corruption and the gap between rich and poor, they are not a force to 'take China down.' Apparently some Western politicians underestimated the Chinese public's desire to maintain social stability," Yuan told the Global Times.

Regarding the intention behind Huntsman's remarks, 43.7 percent of those polled said it was in line with US policy against China, and 32.7 agreed that the idea represents the mainstream view of the US political leadership.

When asked what means Washington are deploying to "take China down" through the Internet, 25 percent chose fomenting social conflicts, 23 percent picked cultivating dissidents and 21.8 percent selected advocating Western political values.

"Washington's policies against China are based on the theories of political collapse and social change, which have not been successful. The political turbulence in some Arab countries reinforced some US politicians' hopes of changing China, and they have already shifted their focus to the Internet by targeting young people and those at the bottom of society," Yuan said.

"The attempt to instigate the Chinese Internet generation as an anti-China weapon is just wishful thinking on Huntsman's part," Wang Yusheng, the director of the Beijing-based China Foundation for International Studies, told the Global Times.

US politicians should spend more time addressing their own problems, such as the ongoing Occupy Wall Street movement, noted Wang, a former ambassador to Nigeria and Colombia.

"The US has turned to soft power to confront the rising China, and its advantages in the Internet is one of the major weapons," Jin Canrong, a vice director of the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.

"However, it is unclear whether the Internet has become a permanent part of the US policy against China," Jin said.

Xia Xueluan, an expert on civil administration and a sociologist at Peking University, told the Global Times that apart from regulating the Internet, authorities need to take firm steps to improve social justice and democracy.

"Some of the complaints on the Internet reflect problems in reality, which could affect social stability if they are not dealt with properly," said Xia, who has proposed an online real-name system.

During the 2011 Summer Davos Forum in Dalian in September, Premier Wen Jiabao specified five tasks to promote political reform: running the country according to the law, promoting social fairness and justice, safeguarding judicial justice, ensuring people's democratic rights and combating corruption.

"By doing so, disadvantaged groups will receive help and our people will feel secure and look to the country's future with confidence," Wen said.

Qian Xiaoqian, a deputy head of the State Council Information Office, revealed last week that China's Internet population has risen to 500 million, with the number of microblog users surpassing 300 million.

Yang Jingjie and agencies contributed to this story