Four out of 10 Filipinos do not believe China’s intentions for the Philippines are good for them, according to a Social Weather Stations survey released Friday.
The survey, conducted from December 16 to 19 last year, found 44 percent of Filipino adults disagreed with the statement: “Most of what the Chinese government wants to happen in the Philippines is good for the Filipinos.”
There is a net agreement score of a moderately weak -12 (23 percent agree, 35 percent disagree) among those who were undecided about their trust in China, and the very weak -40 (19 percent agree, 60 percent disagree) among those with little trust in China, according to SWS.
Only 27 percent agreed with the statement while 29 percent were undecided, equivalent to a net agreement score of -17, “moderately weak,” SWS said.
Of the 44 percent who disagreed, 22 percent “strongly disagree” while the other half “somewhat disagree.”
Recently, concerns have been raised about Manila securing loans from Beijing due to the two nations’ long-standing dispute in the South China Sea.
The Philippines and China have long figured in a maritime dispute as Beijing refuses to recognize an international arbitral court’s ruling that invalidated the latter’s sweeping 9-dash line claim over the South China Sea.
Reports of Chinese personnel harassing Filipino fishermen in the West Philippine Sea, the country’s exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, have also made headlines several times.
But relations between Manila and Beijing have considerably improved under the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte who has chosen to forge closer ties with Asia’s largest economy, setting aside Manila’s maritime dispute with Beijing.
Philippine authorities have repeatedly raised concerns over China’s activities in the disputed waters, particularly its rampant militarization efforts in recent years, which Beijing has denied.
In a speech on Thursday, Duterte warned Beijing to back off from a disputed island in the South China Sea, warning of possible military action if China “touches” it amid rising tensions over the key waterway.
Duterte, aiming to attract trade and investment from the Asian superpower, has mostly withheld his early criticism of Beijing’s expansive claims to the sea — a point of regional contention because trillions of dollars of goods pass through it.
But as the Philippine military warned this week that hundreds of Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels had “swarmed” the Manila-held Pag-asa island, also known as Thitu, Duterte spoke out, saying
“I will not plead or beg, but I am just telling you that lay off the Pag-asa because I have soldiers there.” Duterte said in speech to prosecutors.
Duterte has repeatedly said war with China would be futile and that the Philippines would lose and suffer heavily in the process.
His words came after his Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement calling the Chinese ships’ presence an “illegal” violation of Philippine sovereignty.
In its survey, SWS noted that the number of Filipinos who strongly disagreed that what the Chinese government wanted to happen in the Philippines was good for Filipinos had increased over the past 25 years.
The figure has increased by 17 points to 22 percent in 2018 from the 5 percent who strongly disagreed in 1993, SWS said.
The polling firm added that the December 2018 survey also measured public trust in China as a country.
The survey found a negative net agreement that most of what the Chinese government wants to happen in the Philippines is good for Filipinos among those who distrust China.
SWS said there was a net agreement score of a neutral +8 (39 percent agree, 31 percent disagree) among those with much trust in China.