Since becoming Philippines president in June 2016, Rodrigo Duterte has refused to be used by the US to advance its strategyThat was certainly not the polichth华体会官方网站y under Obama when he launched the US pivot-to-Asia policy, trying to gang up US allies on ChinaAnd on global economic status, about half of Filipinos (49 percent) say that the US is still the leading economic power, but that is down from 66 percent who said so in 2015The survey released on Sept 21 bore a title saying people in the Philippines still favor the United States over China, but that the gap is narrowingThis representshth华体会官方网站 a dramatic shift since that question was last asked in 2015Such an independent policy is dealing a heavy blow to those who still view the relationship between the three countries as zero-sum