Filipinos see US as top ally, China as greatest threat — poll

MANILA, Philippines — While the Duterte administration has maintained warmer ties with China, majority of Filipinos still consider the United States as the country's top ally.

A survey by Washington-based Pew Research Center found that 64% of Filipinos said they rely on the US as a dependable ally in the future . Only 9% of Filipinos saw China as a dependable ally.

The Filipinos' rating on the US as a dependable ally lowered by 19 points from 83% in 2014.

The poll released Thursday also showed that 62% of Filipinos consider China as the greatest threat to the country in the future .

Aside from the Philippines, other regional neighbors also saw China as a threat, including Japan (50%), Australia (40%), South Korea (32%) and Indonesia (21%).

The same survey found that only 5% of Filipinos considered the US as a threat while 4% named Russia and 3% answered Japan as the country's greatest threat.

Pluralities or majorities of the 17 countries surveyed named Washington as their most dependable ally.

Among the countries that named the US as their top ally are Israel (82%), South Korea (71%), Japan (63%), Canada (46%) and Australia (38%).

In the Philippines, the survey was conducted from May 25 to June 22 using face-to-face interviews among 1,035 adults.