Survey: PH firmest believer that China won’t topple US as world superpower
MANILA, Philippines—Filipinos maintained the top rank in a global survey of countries that think that the United States will remain as the world’s leading superpower and will not be replaced by China, according to the latest survey of the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project.
The survey, updated as of July 2014 and published on Pew’s website, found 74 percent of Filipinos responded that China “will never replace US” as the world’s leading superpower.
74 percent of the Filipinos surveyed believe China will not topple the US as the world’s leading superpower. SCREENGRAB from Pew Research Center’s website
Only 10 percent of Filipinos think that China will replace the US as the world’s leading superpower, lower than the 13 percent who believed so in 2013.
Oxford Dictionaries define a superpower as ‘a very powerful and influential nation.’
The Philippines and the US signed in April 2014 the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) that aims to boost the number of allowed US troops in the country who will participate in military trainings and exercises.
The constitutionality of the agreement, however, has been questioned before the Supreme Court, delaying its implementation.
The US is also undergoing its rebalance to Asia, widely seen as a way to keep China’s rise in the region in check.
The United Kingdom, a close ally of the US, ranked highest on the list of countries who think that China “will eventually replace US” as the global superpower.
53 percent of British citizens answered “will eventually replace US,” higher than the 50 percent of Chinese surveyed who answered the same.
Philippines and China are locked in a maritime dispute in the South China Sea which China claims in its entirety.
The survey saw a dramatic increase in the percentage of Filipinos who had an unfavorable view of China to 58 percent in 2014 from 48 percent in 2013.
The percentage of Filipinos with a favorable view of China likewise dropped 10 percent to 38 percent in 2014 from 48 percent in 2013.
The full report is published on https://www.pewglobal.org/database/indicator/1/
Filipinos Love US
The survey also found that the percentage of Filipinos who have a favorable view of the US has reached its highest at 92 percent, keeping the Philippines in the number 1 rank of countries that have a favorable view of the US.
The Philippines maintains its top rank in a global survey of countries with a favorable view of the United States. SCREENGRAB from Pew Research Center’s website.
There was a seven-percent increase in the number of Filipinos who responded with “very favorable” and “somewhat favorable” compared to the 2013 figures at 85 percent.
The percentage of Filipinos who have an unfavorable view of the US also decreased to only six percent in 2014 from 13 percent in 2013.
Following Filipinos in the rankings are the Israelis with 84 percent—an increase of one percent—saying they have a favorable view of the US.
Ranked third is the US with 82 percent, also an increase of one percent.
The respondents on the survey were told to “Please tell me if you have a very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable opinion of the United States.”
The Philippines has topped the list in 2013 and 2002.
A large majority of Filipinos–89 percent–have also expressed confidence in US president Barack Obama, an increase of five percent compared to 2013. The Philippines is on the top of the list followed by South Korea (84 percent) and France (83 percent).
“The Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project conducts public opinion surveys around the world on a broad array of subjects ranging from people’s assessments of their own lives to their views about the current state of the world and important issues of the day,” the company said in its website.
“Over 330,000 interviews in 60 countries have been conducted as part of the project’s work. The Pew Global Attitudes Project team regularly consults with survey and policy experts, academic regional and economic experts, activists and policymakers. Their expertise provides tremendous guidance in shaping the surveys,” it said.
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