What does a government do when it cannot win an argument with facts, law, or diplomacy? Sometimes it reaches for ridicule. In one of the most disturbing examples of state-backed propaganda in recent memory, China’s state-owned newspaper China Daily published AI-generated videos portraying Filipinos as monkeys. It is difficult to view the videos as anything other than a deliberate attempt to dehumanize an entire people in the service of Beijing’s political agenda.
The videos were released around the tenth anniversary of the landmark 2016 international arbitration ruling that rejected China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea. Rather than engaging the legal findings, the videos turned to crude caricature and racial imagery. The result was a spectacle that outraged officials across the Philippines and drew formal diplomatic protests from Manila.
A Propaganda Campaign Instead of an Argument
According to Philippine officials, the AI-generated video depicts a monkey dressed in clothing associated with the Philippines, including a Barong Tagalog and a traditional hat. The monkey is manipulated by hands representing the United States and Japan, is mocked as “stupid,” clutches a paper labeled “South China Sea arbitration award,” and is eventually hurled into the sea where it is blasted with a water cannon by what appears to be a Chinese coast guard vessel.
The symbolism is impossible to miss. The Philippines is portrayed as an unintelligent puppet controlled by foreign powers while China’s use of force at sea is presented as justified. This is not satire aimed at political leaders. It is imagery directed at an entire nationality.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs described the material as “demeaning, dehumanizing, and racist,” adding that China Daily had gone “beyond legitimate political debate.” The department formally demanded that the videos be removed, arguing that disagreement over legal and political issues “does not justify resorting to imagery that has no place in the public discourse of responsible states.”
The Philippine Response
Manila did not treat the incident as an internet controversy. It treated it as a diplomatic issue.
Foreign Affairs officials raised the matter directly with China’s ambassador, filed a formal diplomatic protest, and instructed the Philippine Embassy in Beijing to send an open letter to China Daily demanding that the offensive material be taken down. Philippine officials warned that such content violated the mutual respect expected between sovereign nations and would only deepen distrust between the two countries.
Philippine lawmakers were even more direct.
A joint statement from several members of the House of Representatives called the videos “a vile, racist attack” that exposed “the moral bankruptcy and intellectual desperation of Beijing’s propaganda apparatus.” The lawmakers argued that after failing to prevail through international law, China had chosen mockery and racial caricature instead.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. likewise condemned the videos, saying they revealed “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.”
The Context Behind the Propaganda
The dispute did not emerge in isolation.
For years, tensions between China and the Philippines have intensified over competing claims in the South China Sea. In 2016, an international tribunal ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines, finding that China’s expansive maritime claims had no legal basis under international law. Beijing rejected the ruling and continues to insist that the decision is invalid.
Since then, confrontations have become increasingly common. Philippine officials have repeatedly accused Chinese coast guard vessels of dangerous maneuvers, collisions, and the use of water cannons against Philippine ships operating near disputed features such as Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal. The Philippines has also strengthened security ties with the United States and other allies while receiving diplomatic support from countries including Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, and members of the European Union, all of which have reaffirmed the importance of the 2016 arbitration ruling.
Against that backdrop, the timing of China Daily’s videos appeared calculated to undermine the anniversary of a legal decision that Beijing continues to reject.
A Troubling Choice
China’s Foreign Ministry attempted to distance itself from the controversy by saying the video did not represent its official position, while at the same time repeating that the arbitration ruling was “illegal, null and void.”
Even if one accepts that distinction, the episode raises uncomfortable questions. China Daily is not an obscure internet account. It is one of China’s principal state-owned media organizations with an enormous international audience. Material published through such channels inevitably reflects on the country’s image abroad.
Diplomatic disputes are inevitable between nations. History is full of disagreements over territory, resources, and security. But reducing an entire people to racist caricatures is something fundamentally different. It abandons persuasion in favor of dehumanization.
Whether this episode reflects poor editorial judgment, an attempt at aggressive nationalist messaging, or a broader failure of official oversight, the damage is real. At a time when tensions in the South China Sea are already high, replacing reasoned debate with racial mockery does not strengthen China’s position. It undermines it.
Governments that aspire to global leadership should demonstrate confidence through evidence, diplomacy, and respect. Resorting to propaganda that depicts another nation’s people as monkeys sends precisely the opposite message. It is crude, unnecessary, and unworthy of any country seeking to be regarded as a responsible international power.