Manila has strongly condemned state-run China Daily for releasing an AI-generated video that depicted Filipinos as monkeys, calling the imagery racist, offensive, distressing, and unacceptable, and demanding its immediate removal.
The video was posted on China Daily’s Facebook account on 10th July, coinciding with Philippine events marking the 10th anniversary of the landmark arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea. It showed a monkey dressed in Filipino attire being directed by arms representing the US and Japan on what to sing. After being called stupid, the monkey pulled out 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. The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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 exposes the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of China’s propaganda machine,” Teodoro said, adding that “the recent spate of schizophrenic behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party is too clear to disregard or to ignore” and that the act of dehumanisation revealed Beijing as “neither a secure and confident actor nor a trustworthy neighbour.”
The Philippine foreign ministry echoed the criticism, stating: “We draw a firm line at the depiction of Filipinos as monkeys in the 10th July 2026 video, which is deeply offensive, distressing, and unacceptable.” Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela separately condemned the video as “overt racism with no place in modern discourse”, stating plainly, “Filipinos are not monkeys.”
The 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague found that China’s expansive nine-dash line claims had no legal basis under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and affirmed the Philippines’ maritime entitlements within its exclusive economic zone. Beijing rejects the ruling. On the anniversary, 14 countries, including the US, Japan, Australia, the UK, and Canada, issued a joint statement reaffirming that the arbitral award is final, legally binding, and definitive between China and the Philippines.
Manila’s rebuke comes amid already strained relations with Beijing, marked by repeated confrontations at sea and aggressive manoeuvres by Chinese vessels. China has sanctioned Teodoro and his family, barring them from entering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, and recently installed a floating barrier at the entrance to the contested Scarborough Shoal, which was removed after Philippine protests. Chinese coast guard vessels have also frequently used water cannons and blocked Philippine resupply missions to features such as Second Thomas Shoal.
The incident highlights the growing use of AI-generated content in geopolitical propaganda and raises concerns about its potential to inflame public sentiment and deepen distrust between the two nations. Manila has emphasised that disagreement over legal and political issues does not justify dehumanising imagery. As the Philippines continues to uphold the 2016 arbitral award as a cornerstone of its foreign policy in the West Philippine Sea, officials have called on the international community to support freedom of navigation and respect for international law in the strategically vital waterway.
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