MANILA, July 17 (Reuters) – The Philippines strongly condemned state-run China Daily for releasing an AI-generated video that depicted Filipinos as monkeys, saying the “racist” imagery is “offensive, distressing and unacceptable” and drawing a firm line against dehumanising propaganda.
Manila demanded that the video posted on China Daily’s Facebook account on July 10 be taken down. The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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 Defense 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 Thursday.
China Daily’s AI-generated video was posted on July 10, coinciding with Philippine events marking the 10th anniversary of a landmark arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea. Beijing rejects the ruling.
“The recent spate of schizophrenic behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party is too clear to disregard or to ignore. This latest act of dehumanization further reveals them as neither a secure and confident actor nor a trustworthy neighbour,” Teodoro said in a statement.
Manila’s sharp rebuke comes at a time when relations between the Philippines and China are already strained by South China Sea tensions, including repeated confrontations at sea, aggressive manoeuvres by Chinese vessels, Beijing imposing sanctions on Teodoro, and more recently over a floating barrier installed by China at the entrance of the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal that was later removed after Philippine protests.
“We draw a firm line at the depiction of Filipinos as monkeys in the 10 July 2026 video, which is deeply offensive, distressing, and unacceptable,” the Philippine foreign ministry said in a statement late Thursday.
(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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