The latest survey results from OCTA Research, released on Friday, June 7, revealed that majority of Filipinos continue to distrust China, a trend that has been steadily increasing since February 2022.
Based on the March 2024 First Quarter “Tugon ng Masa” (TNM) survey, 91 percent of adult Filipinos expressed distrust towards China, with only 8 percent holding the opposite view.
It said that China’s trust rating ranged from 5 and 15 percent across major areas, with Mindanao having the highest percentage.
Adult Filipinos in Class ABC (15 percent) had higher trust ratings in China than those in Classes D and E (7 percent and 8 percent, respectively).
Among age groups, China’s trust ratings ranged from 12 percent to 23 percent, with the highest trust rating coming from adult Filipinos aged 25-34.
Moreover, adult Filipinos in rural areas (15 percent) had lower trust ratings in China than adult Filipinos in urban areas (19 percent). This pattern was nearly the same for males (16 percent) and females (18 percent), as well as education levels (13 to 19 percent).
Trust trends
Since February 2022, OCTA said China's trust rating has steadily declined, with only 8 percent of adult Filipinos trusting the country, while distrust has increased to 91 percent.
“Compared to December 2023, the percentage of China’s trust ratings decreased in Balance Luzon and Mindanao by one percentage point and five percentage points, respectively, while it increased in Visayas by two percentage points. China’sdistrust rating has shown an upward trend since February 2022,” it pointed out.
“However, compared to December 2023, there is only a one percentage point increase in China’s distrust rating in March 2024. Compared to December 2023, the percentage of China’s distrust ratings decreased in NCR (National Capital Region) and Visayas by one percentage point and two percentage points, respectively, while it increased by five percentage points in Mindanao and remained the same in Balance Luzon,” it added.
In terms of socioeconomic classes, the trust ratings of China among adult Filipinos in Class ABC increased by eight percentage points, from 7 percent to 15 percent.
Conversely, it decreased by three percentage points among those in Class D, dropping from 10 to 7 percent.
Likewise, the percentage of China’s distrust ratings among adult Filipinos in Class ABC decreased by 10 percentage points, from 93 to 83 percent.
However, distrust ratings increased from 89 to 92 percent among adult Filipinos in Class D and from 92 to 91 percent among those in Class E.
When compared to other countries, China has consistently held the lowest trust rating among adult Filipinos since January 2021, in contrast to the United States, Russia, and North Korea.
In February 2022, there was a notable increase of 14 percentage points in the trust rating of adult Filipinos towards China.
However, this trend has reversed as recent data from the TNM survey conducted in March 2024 indicated that only 8 percent of adult Filipinos expressed trust in China.
Meanwhile, the trust rating of the United States among adult Filipinos has remained consistently high, with more than 85 percent of adult Filipinos expressing trust in the United States since July 2021.
The March 2024 First Quarter TNM Survey polled 1,200 respondents nationwide from March 11 to 14.