The US was believed to be fully behind the scenes when the Philippines, under President Benigno Aquino III, filed the arbitration suit in 2013 against China in a tribunal in The Hague, a case in which China had refused to participateBy comparing these figures, Pew seems to suggest that China and the US are engaging in a popularity contest in the Philippineshttps://img-hws.y8.com/cloud/v2-y8-thumbs-small-thumbnails-001/140263/small.gifA zero-sum mentality about China-US relations is reflected not only in the thinking of some US politicians, but also in a new survey conducted by the Pew Research CenterAccording to the survey, 78 percent in the Philippines have a positive view of the US as of this spring, down from 92 percent who expressed positive sentiments in 2015The US government, lawmakers and pundits have generally expressed negative views of Duterte since he took office last Junehttps://img-hws.y8.com/cloud/v2-y8-thumbs-small-thumbnails-001/140263/small.gifBut Filipinos also share positive views of China and its leader, President Xi Jinping