Philippines files protest over ‘racist’ China video portraying Filipinos as monkeys

MANILA – The Philippines lodged on July 17 a diplomatic protest with China over a “racist” video posted by Chinese state media portraying Filipinos as monkeys.Senior officials in Manila strongly denounced the artificial intelligence-generated video posted on Facebook by state-run China Daily as “offensive, distressing and unacceptable”.The video portrayed a monkey dressed in Filipino attire being directed by arms representing the United States and Japan on what to sing.After being called “stupid”, the monkey pulled a sheet of lyrics bearing the words “South China Sea arbitration award” before being thrown into the sea and blasted by a vessel’s water cannon.Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro denounced the material as “contemptible propaganda” and “a disgrace to any State that claims to exercise responsible regional leadership”.He said the episode exposed “the weakness of a government that resorts to racism, threats and manufactured hatred because it has utterly failed to defend its ridiculous claims through reason, evidence or law”.“This mockery of the lawful 2016 Arbitral Award and the video’s glorification of violence against the Filipino people and soldiers expose the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of China’s propaganda machine,” Teodoro said late on July 16.The China Daily post is the latest offshoot of a long-running dispute over the Philippines’ and China’s overlapping South China Sea claims.Foreign Undersecretary Leo Herrera-Lim first conveyed the Philippines’ “firm objection to the offensive content” in a meeting on July 16 with Chinese Ambassador to Manila Jing Quan, a Foreign Ministry statement said.The Philippines “demanded that the materials be taken down, stressing that such content is inconsistent with the mutual respect expected between states and does no favours to the sound and stable management of bilateral relations”, it said.“The department has since issued a formal diplomatic protest condemning the videos and cartoons, noting that China Daily went beyond legitimate political debate by resorting to demeaning, dehumanising and racist depictions of Filipinos,” it added.The Philippine embassy in Beijing also wrote to the paper’s editor-in-chief, demanding the “immediate takedown of the offensive material”, the statement said.A spokesman said China’s Foreign Ministry would not comment on the video, as it “does not represent the official position”.The Philippines marked on July 12 the 10th anniversary of an international arbitration ruling that Beijing’s claim over most of the strategic waterway is without legal basis.The country issued a joint statement signed by 13 other countries, including Japan and the United States, that called the ruling legally binding.Beijing has repeatedly said the 2016 ruling was invalid and labelled the weekend statement a “distortion of the facts” aimed at vilifying China.In June, China sanctioned Teodoro, the Philippine defence chief, after he criticised China’s activities in the South China Sea, barring him from visiting China’s mainland, Hong Kong or Macau.In January, China filed a diplomatic protest after Commodore 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. AFP, REUTERS