THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has filed a diplomatic protest against a Chinese state-run publication over what it described as racist, demeaning and dehumanizing depictions of Filipinos in a series of opinion videos and editorial cartoons.
In a statement issued on Friday, the DFA said the protest covers an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated video posted on China Daily’s Facebook page on July 10, which portrayed Filipinos using offensive racial stereotypes.
It said the Philippine government first conveyed its strong objection on July 16, when Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Leo Herrera-Lim raised the issue directly with Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan during a face-to-face meeting.
In the minute-long video — posted to the China Daily Facebook page — a timid monkey wearing a traditional Filipino shirt known as a barong is shoved onto a karaoke stage on a boat.
When it begins singing lyrics that seem to agree with China’s position on recent maritime delimitation talks between Manila and Tokyo, a voice shouts “wrong song” and hands it a sheet labeled “South China Sea Arbitration Award.”
Arms bearing US and Japanese flags then put the monkey in a catapult and send it flying into a water cannon, a tool previously employed by the Chinese coast guard in encounters with Filipino sailors and fishermen.
Herrera-Lim demanded the immediate removal of the offensive materials, saying they are inconsistent with the mutual respect expected between states and do no favors to the sound and stable management of bilateral relations.”
The DFA emphasized that while the Philippines has consistently rejected what it considers false narratives and distortions surrounding the 2016 arbitral award and the country’s lawful position in the South China Sea, disagreements should never descend into racial attacks or discriminatory propaganda.
The Philippine Embassy in Beijing sent a formal letter to China Daily’s editor-in-chief, reiterating Manila’s demand to take down the offensive materials.
In 2016, an international arbitral tribunal constituted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea invalidated China’s expansive “nine-dash line” claim in the South China Sea as having no legal basis under international law. China has consistently rejected the ruling.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said in a statement late Thursday that “the video’s glorification of violence against the Filipino people and soldiers exposes the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of China’s propaganda machine.”
“This latest act of dehumanization further reveals them as neither a secure and confident actor nor a trustworthy neighbor,” Teodoro said.
A spokesman said China’s foreign ministry in Beijing would not comment on the video as it “does not represent the official position.”
Manila on Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of the arbitration ruling.
The Philippines issued a joint statement on Sunday signed by 13 other countries — including Japan and the United States — that called the ruling legally binding.
Last month, Beijing sanctioned Teodoro after he criticized China’s activities in the South China Sea, barring him from visiting China’s mainland, Hong Kong or Macao.
In January, China filed a diplomatic protest after Commo. Jay Tarriela, a Philippine coast guard spokesman, posted a photo of himself giving a speech with a compilation of comical images of Chinese President Xi Jinping in the background.
The China Daily videos and cartoons have unleashed a wave of condemnation among Philippine lawmakers.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said the offensive materials crossed the boundaries of responsible public discourse, emphasizing that free expression carries with it the obligation to uphold truth, respect and civility.
“Freedom of expression, even in political disputes, is not a license to dehumanize people. Racism has no space in any society that values truth and civility,” Gatchalian said.
“Disagreements between nations should sharpen our reasoning, not our prejudices. We call on all sides to be more circumspect and to choose dialogue over derision,” he said.
Sen. Robinhood Padilla backed the DFA’s decision to file a diplomatic protest, saying offensive portrayals of Filipinos must not be tolerated, and that political discourse should be anchored on mutual respect, diplomacy and constructive engagement.
Padilla stressed that while the Philippines remains committed to peaceful dialogue and stable relations with other nations, the country’s sovereignty, national interests and the dignity of the Filipino people must always be protected.
“Patriotism and diplomacy are not mutually exclusive; a nation can stand firm on its principles while extending respect to others,” he said.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan also demanded that the Chinese government direct China Daily to remove the video, issue a public apology, and hold those responsible for its creation and release accountable.
In statements on Friday, the members of the “Young Guns” in the House of Representatives said the cartoons are a “conduct of a bully that has run out of legal arguments and has resorted to bigotry.”
They said that they support the statements made by the Department of National Defense and the DFA that made the arbitral award a “final and legally binding decision that affirmed the Philippines’ sovereign rights and maritime entitlements.”
“Instead of respecting international law, China has chosen to glorify violence against Filipino fishermen and soldiers, demean an entire nation through simian imagery and spread manufactured hatred. Such actions reveal not strength, but profound insecurity and weakness,” the lawmakers said.
The Young Guns are composed of Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega, Deputy Speaker Jay Khonghun, Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong and Rep. Ernesto Dionisio.
Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said the racist depiction in China Daily of Filipinos as monkeys at the mercy of the United States and Japan “simply shows that China’s arrogance knows no bounds.”
“It further reveals how little they think of us and how highly they think of themselves. This is another act that reflects the mindset of an entitled bully,” de Lima said.
Akbayan Rep. Percival Cendana called the propaganda made by the Chinese government as “sickening” and “reprehensible.”
“[T]he Chinese government has now resorted to using outright racism in attacking our Country’s sovereignty and our People’s dignity. I join every Filipino in condemning this bare-naked display of bigotry,” Cendana said.
He also said that it is “deeply troubling” that the government of a superpower is employing an old and despicable slur against Filipinos.
“We should take note of the fact that the Chinese government has in the past attacked and criticized western imperialism and colonialism. But now it is displaying the same dehumanizing rhetoric and chauvinist behavior characteristic of any imperialist power,” Cendana added.
The opposition party-list Akbayan described the China Daily cartoon and videos as a “racist propaganda stunt that exposes Beijing’s lack of international support and its bankrupt legal, moral and diplomatic case on the West Philippine Sea.”
“China’s AI monkey video shows it has lost the argument on the West Philippine Sea,” Akbayan President Rafaela David said.
David said the video only reinforces China’s “growing isolation,” and that Beijing is basically the lone sovereign state rejecting the 2016 arbitral award.
“No amount of AI-generated propaganda can erase our West Philippine Sea victory. China cannot deepfake legitimacy or algorithm its way out of international law. It has no legal claim, no credible evidence, and, increasingly, no one left to convince but itself. The Philippines is defending its own sovereignty, not anyone else’s interests. What China calls ‘foreign influence’ is simply the international community recognizing what the arbitral tribunal already affirmed: that Beijing’s sweeping claims have no legal basis,” David said.
A group of civic organizations joined in condemning the cartoons and video as a racist attack on the Filipino people and urging its immediate removal.
In a statement, the Alyansa ng Bantay sa Kapayapaan at Demokrasya, the People’s Alliance for Democracy and Reforms, Liga Independencia Pilipinas and the Filipinos Do Not Yield Movement, whose chairman emeritus, civic leader and national security expert Jose Antonio Goitia, described the video as an affront to the dignity of Filipinos.
The groups issued the statement days after Chinese scholars withdrew a controversial study claiming that Batanes belongs to China following criticism from Philippine officials, historians and the public.
Goitia said the release of the video reflected a pattern of disinformation after the territorial claim was widely disputed.
“They first tried to rewrite our history. When their falsehoods collapsed before the weight of truth, geography and international law, they turned their sights on the Filipino people,” he said.
