Tsinoys’ dilemma: impact of Philippine-China relations on the political attitudes and behavior of Chinese Filipino youth in Manila.

Abstract

Since the inauguration of Rodrigo Duterte as the president of the Philippine Republic in 2016, Philippines-China relations have been put in the limelight, so have the social and political lives of the Chinese in the Philippines, as well as the Chinese Filipinos or Tsinoys. This study assessed the impact, particularly the effects and implications, of Philippine-China relations on the political attitudes and behavior of Tsinoys. As the successors of the Chinese Filipino community and their potential role on Philippine politics, the study will focus on the fifteen (15) Chinese Filipino youth residing in Manila. Through qualitative methods (interview and key-informant interview), this study attempted to describe, analyze, and explain how they think and behave as members of the political system in terms of political information and issue perception, citizenry, political efficacy, and political participation. The questions were based on the events and issues that happened on the final phase and initial phase of the Aquino III and Duterte administrations, respectively. The researcher has initially hypothesized that their political attitudes and behavior are heavily influenced by the relations, since they are torn between the Philippines being their homeland, and China, being the land of their forefathers, which has become economically and politically superior these days, very timely for the reclamation of their Chinese roots. However, based on the findings, Tsinoy youth are politically informed only about the local and national issues in the Philippines, but not in China. Furthermore, they have a high sense of citizenship and a high sense of political efficacy which are not affected by the relations of the two countries. Although they sometimes participate in political discussions, they are not politically active, except for elections. The researcher found out that their political attitudes and behavior are mainly based on domestic politics of the Philippines and are not affected by the ties, regardless of the degree of economic, cultural, and political ties as well disputes between them.