MOST Filipinos said they distrust China and Russia despite efforts by President Rodrigo Duterte to build better relations with the two countries, the latest Pulse Asia survey released Tuesday revealed.
Filipino’s distrust towards China (63 percent) and Russia (56 percent) hardly changed from the December 2016 survey.
The same nationwide survey of 1,200 respondents found that the majority had a high level of trust towards the United States (79 percent), Japan (75 percent), Australia (69 percent) and the UK (53 percent).
Distrust in the prevailing sentiment toward China in every geographic area (from 53 to 70 percent) and all socio-economic classes (from 63 to 69 percent), while Russia recorded majority distrust in the Balance Luzon (60 percent), the Visayas (62 percent), and all socioeconomic classes (54 to 61 percent) while it posts a bare majority trust score (51 percent) in Metro Manila and Mindanao.
The United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations garnered trust ratings of 82 percent and 81 percent, respectively.
The high ratings for the United States, Australia, the UK and the UN were unaffected by President Duterte’s tirades against them for criticizing his bloody anti-drug campaign.
Commenting on the survey findings, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said Filipinos have long been conditioned to distrust China and Russia, but the President was working to change that perception.
“Lets just say that’s par for the course. After all these years, we are made to think that these are the enemies. The President is breaking free as a disruptor,” he said.
The survey, conducted from March 15 to 20, has a sampling margin of error of ±3 points at the 95 percent confidence level.