SWS: Most Filipinos don’t trust China

China’s trust rating among Filipinos dipped further in September, its score dropping from “poor” to “bad” as shown by the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) released on Wednesday.

The poll conducted from Sept. 27 to 30 saw 54 percent of Filipinos having “little trust” in China, while 21 percent said they have “much trust.”

The result yielded a -33 net trust score (“bad”), 9 points lower than June’s -24 score (“poor”). This is the lowest trust rating since the -35 (“bad”) recorded in June 2018.

The SWS reported China’s highest net trust rating at +17 in June 2010. This sank to -46 in September 2015.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Palace was “not surprised, as it does not feel affronted” by the latest SWS finding.

Territorial dispute

“Despite the territorial dispute not being the sum total of our relationship with China, the Office of the President will neither court nor force any citizen to change his or her sentiments toward our giant neighbor in the north,” Panelo said in a statement on Thursday.

The Palace official noted that the SWS third quarter results “are foreseeable and understandable, given the conflicting positions of China and our country relative to the West Philippine Sea.”

Panelo, however, said he foresees that China “could even become a role model of the Philippines in reducing, if not totally eradicating, poverty.”

The Philippines remains locked in a territorial dispute with China, whose nine-dash-line claim over the vast waters of the South China Sea overlaps those within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

Beijing has refused to acknowledge a 2016 arbitral ruling dismissing its claim and maintains a maritime militia to guard the area.

Arbitral ruling

President Duterte has meanwhile set aside the arbitral ruling favoring the Philippines in exchange for loans, infrastructure funds and trade cooperation with China.

In the same SWS survey, the United States still ranked as the most trusted country among Filipinos with a net trust rating of +72  (“excellent”).

Trust in Australia and Japan was consistent at +37 and +35 net ratings (“good”), respectively. Singapore received a “moderate” trust rating of +26, while Vietnam’s dropped from “moderate” +13 rating to a “neutral” net zero rating.

The noncommissioned survey was conducted face-to-face with 1,800 adults, 600 each in Mindanao and Luzon outside Metro Manila, and 300 each in Metro Manila and Visayas.