Philippines Protests China State Media's 'Monkey' Video, Citing Racist Depiction

The Philippines has issued a formal protest to the Chinese government over an AI-generated video produced by a Chinese state media outlet that depicts the nation as a monkey, with the Department of Foreign Affairs demanding its "immediate takedown" and condemning the portrayal as "racist" and "dehumanizing." The 58-second video, released online by the state-controlled China Daily on July 10, shows a monkey in traditional Filipino attire being compelled by the United States and Japan to parrot the 2016 arbitral award. This landmark ruling by a tribunal in The Hague invalidated China's expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea under international maritime law. When the monkey refuses to obey the U.S. and Japan, it is thrown into the ocean and subsequently shot with a high-pressure water cannon by the China Coast Guard, before a whale surfaces and dismisses the arbitral award as "litter." Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro stated that the video offered a "revealing insight into what the Chinese communist apparatus thinks of the Filipino people" and accused China's propaganda machine of exhibiting "moral and intellectual bankruptcy." Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Leo Herrera-Lim met with Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan to convey the government's "firm objection" to a series of "offensive" cartoons and videos published by China Daily regarding the arbitral award. The department noted that China Daily had "gone beyond legitimate political debate by resorting to demeaning, dehumanizing, and racist depictions of Filipinos." The Philippines warned that such content "only widens distrust between the two countries" and reiterated its demand for the material's "immediate takedown." Last week, the Philippines marked the 10th anniversary of the South China Sea arbitral ruling, which concluded the legal case it brought against China in 2013. The July 12, 2016, verdict supported most of the Philippines' claims and found China's "nine-dash line" to be invalid under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). China has refused to accept the award, declaring it "null and void," and its coast guard continues to engage in confrontations with Philippine vessels in contested waters. While the AI-generated video format allows the Chinese government a degree of plausible deniability, it highlights a tendency within China to view the Philippines' actions as an extension of U.S. policy. This perspective suggests that the Marcos administration's recent pushback against Chinese incursions into its exclusive economic zone stems not from legitimate security concerns but from Washington's machinations. Although the resolution of South China Sea disputes is undeniably complicated by U.S.-China geopolitical competition, treating the Philippines as a U.S. proxy will not advance a peaceful resolution. Instead, it is rapidly deepening alienation between the two neighbors. Source: The Diplomat Indonesia