2 Chinas in 1 Pinoy mind

A 2026 Pew Research Center Global Attitudes Survey showed 40 percent of Filipinos now have a favorable view of China — up from 34 percent two years ago. Among young Filipinos aged 18 to 34 it’s even higher at 47 percent, compared with 27 percent of those aged 50 years and over. That’s a jump, no question.

The same survey also found that 76 percent of Filipinos still consider China the top threat to the country. While another poll in July 2026 showed that 64 percent believe we should distrust China.

At first glance, the numbers don’t line up. So, which is it? Are Filipinos warming up to China or not?

We might be asking the wrong question. We treat Filipino attitudes toward China like it’s a single thing. Maybe we’re actually dealing with two different Chinas — and they can coexist in the same person’s head without canceling each other out.

There’s Beijing, China — the government, the coast guard, the territorial claims, the confrontations in the West Philippine Sea. That’s the China we see in news headlines, the one that makes us anxious, the one that 86 percent of Filipinos worry about.

Then there’s the “everyday” China — a term referred to by Dr. Jan Robert R. Go, an associate professor in Political Science at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, in his 17 September article posted on https://fulcrum.sg.

It’s the “everyday” China of the phone in our pockets, the food on our plate, and the dramas on our social media feed. These two Chinas can live side by side in the same Filipino mind.

For a young Filipino on TikTok, China can appear in many different ways. One video shows Philippine and Chinese vessels in a standoff at sea. A few swipes later, they’re watching a travel vlogger rave about Shanghai’s subway system. Then comes a review of a Xiaomi phone and other products. Then a clip from a Chinese drama that’s suddenly everyone’s obsession.

The algorithm doesn’t ask us to pick a side. It just shows different versions of China, one after another. That’s how it actually works now, and we underestimate what it’s doing to us.

One thing about younger Filipinos is that many of them don’t carry the same baggage their parents do. Their first real encounter with China might not be a newspaper story about Mischief Reef. It could be a Chinese restaurant their family loves, a phone they saved up for, a viral video, or a drama series they binge-watched with friends.

And it doesn’t make them pro-Beijing.

You can enjoy Chinese food, admire China’s high-speed trains, use a Chinese-made phone, and still firmly believe the Philippines should defend its maritime rights. There’s no contradiction there, unless we insist on seeing one.

China has gotten much more sophisticated in how it uses social media and digital platforms to shape how people see it. Documented efforts have pushed pro-China messaging and weakened support for the Philippines’ alliance with the United States.

However, calling every positive impression of China “propaganda” would be lazy thinking.

Admittedly, many are real. Chinese technology is competitive. Chinese cities are modern. Chinese entertainment can be genuinely entertaining. Chinese food like siomai, siopao, chop suey, and lumpiang shanghai have been part of Filipino life for generations.

People can appreciate these things without buying into Beijing’s politics. It doesn’t help that China has become tangled up in our domestic politics. Former President Rodrigo Duterte favored a friendlier approach toward Beijing, while President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has strengthened ties with the United States and taken a tougher stance on the West Philippine Sea.

Apparently, attitudes toward China sometimes become political statements — a way of saying which camp you’re in. But let’s not assume everyone with a favorable view of China is automatically pro-Duterte, anti-American, or secretly cheering for Beijing.

People don’t sort that cleanly.

A young Filipino might distrust China politically but still enjoy Chinese entertainment. Another might admire China’s economic rise while opposing its actions in our waters. Someone else might just be curious about Chinese culture and have zero interest in geopolitics.

This distinction matters, especially for the Philippine government.

The question isn’t whether Filipinos are suddenly becoming “pro-China.” The numbers may clearly show that the distrust runs deep, but how do Filipinos make sense of the different faces of China they encounter every day?

Online, where everything is already divisive, influence doesn’t always come from convincing people to agree with a government. Sometimes, it works by simply making a country feel normal — familiar enough that you stop questioning it

And familiarity, even without trust, can slowly reshape how people see things.

The China that confronts our Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea is real. So is the China behind the phone in our hand, the many restaurants in the streets and malls, the drama on our feed, and the technology entering our daily life.

These are two different images that Filipinos are learning to hold both in their minds at the same time.

It’s not really a mixed signal but simply how people actually think. And understanding it might be a way to deal with an increasingly complicated relationship.