MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines maintained its ranking in the 2019 Global Diplomacy Index released by Australia-based think tank Lowy Institute.
The Philippines ranked 41st out of 61 countries covered with
a total of 87 diplomatic posts across the world. The country also ranked 11th out of 22 nations in Asia.
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The country has 60 embassies or high commissions, 23 consulates and 4 permanent missions in different countries and cities globally.
For the first time, China has surpassed the United States to have the largest diplomatic network. Beijing has 276 posts globally while Washington has 273.
China ranked second in 2017 but grew its diplomatic network in two years with five new diplomatic posts. China now has 69 embassies or high commissions, 96
consulates, eight permanent missions and three other representations.
The US did not open any new diplomatic post in recent years after closing is consulate-general in St. Petersburg, Russia last year.
Lowy, however, noted that the US remains the most popular place for countries to maintain embassies and consulates despite dropping to the second place in the diplomacy index this year.
"The US is home to some 342 posts belonging to the 61 countries included in the Index. China, with 256, is a distant second," the report read.
France ranked third with 267 total diplomatic posts followed by Japan with 247, Russia with 242, Turkey with 234, Germany with 224, Brazil with 222, Spain with 215 and Italy with 209.
A recent Social Weather Stations survey found that Filipinos still trust the US the most with an "excellent" net trust rating of +72.
The September poll also found that Filipinos have the least trust for China with a net trust of a "bad" -33.
Australia and Japan got "very good" net trust scores of +37 and +35, respectively, while Singapore recorded a "moderate" +26.