Fifty-two percent of Filipinos believe the Philippines can have good relations with both the United States and China, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) found in its September 27-30 poll.
The same survey released on December 7, however, revealed that 78 % of Filipinos believe the country’s ties with the US is “more important” than its relationship with China, while 12 percent think otherwise and noted that only 5 % consider the Philippines’ relationship with both the US and China as “equally important,” while 4 % were ambivalent on this matter.
Those who valued more the country’s ties with the Washington than Beijing was highest in Balance Luzon (83 %), followed by Metro Manila (79 %), the Visayas (77 %), and Mindanao (67 %), based on the results of the survey.
The SWS exposed that 21 % of Filipinos have “much trust” in China, 54 % have “little trust,” and the remaining 23 % are undecided, for a net trust rating of -33 classified by SWS as bad.
“Those with much trust in China have stronger believe that the Philippines can have a good relationship with both China and the US at the same time,” the SWS said.
Meantime, the pollster said the US got an “excellent” net trust rating of +72 as 80 % of Filipinos have “much trust” in Washington, 8 % have “little trust,” and the remaining 11 % are hesitant about this issue.
“Those with little trust in China value the Philippines’ relationship with the US more than its relationship with China,” it added.
Despite this, the survey stressed that 52 % think it is “possible” for the Philippines to have a good relationship with both China and the US “at the same time.”. 41 % ruled out such possibility, while the remaining 7 % did not have an answer.
The highest number of Filipinos, who raised the possibility that Manila can manage good ties with both countries, was recorded in Mindanao (53 %), and was followed by Metro Manila (52 %), Balance Luzon (52 %), and in the Visayas (48 %).
SWS conducted the survey amid the implementation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s independent foreign policy that is aimed at pursuing good relations with all nations.
Duterte has maintained the Philippines’ good relations with the Washington under the watch of US President Donald Trump.
The President, at the same time, has amended the country’s ties with China, which has a sour relationship with the administration in the past owing to 3tensions in the disputed South China Sea.
SWS used face-to-face interviews with 1,800 respondents aged 18 and above. It applied sampling error margins of ±2.3 percentage points for national percentages, ±4 percentage points each for Balance Luzon and Mindanao, and ±6 percentage points each for Metro Manila and the Visayas.
From: PNA
