PH issues diplomatic protest over China Daily 'racist' videos, cartoons

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Friday it has issued a formal diplomatic protest over China Daily’s “dehumanizing and racist” depiction of Filipinos in videos and editorial cartoons on the 2016 arbitral ruling.

The agency said that the Philippines first conveyed its “firm objection to the offensive content” when DFA Undersecretary Leo Herrera-Lim raised the issue directly with Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan in a face-to-face meeting on July 16, 2026.

Herrera-Lim then demanded that the materials be taken down, “stressing that such content is inconsistent with the mutual respect expected between states and does no favors to the sound and stable management of bilateral relations.”

“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, dehumanizing, and racist depictions of Filipinos,” the DFA said in a statement.

One contentious post of China Daily on social media featured a video showing a monkey dressed in a barong tagalog and a salakot and being dictated on what to say by what appeared to be American and Japanese characters.

It also showed the monkey being sprayed with a water cannon on the high seas after being given the arbitral award.

The post was made on July 10, two days before the 10th anniversary of the historic decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration that upheld the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

The DFA said that the protest reiterated the call for the video’s immediate takedown and warned that such content only widens distrust between the Philippines and China.

“The protest underscored that while the Philippines has consistently rejected false narratives and distortions regarding the Arbitral Award and its lawful positions in the South China Sea, disagreement over legal and political issues does not justify resorting to imagery that has no place in the public discourse of responsible states,” the agency said.

“The Department remains committed to dialogue and diplomacy in its engagement with China, but will not hesitate to call out discriminatory and offensive rhetoric wherever it appears,” it added.

The DFA also noted that the Philippine Embassy in Beijing already followed through with a formal letter to the China Daily’s editor-in-chief.

In an open letter on Friday, the Embassy emphasized that such imagery and misinformation breach norms and principles.

“As a Chinese state-run media outlet, China Daily’s conduct goes beyond legitimate political debate and employs blatantly demeaning, dehumanizing, and racist depictions of Filipinos,” the Embassy said, reiterating the statement of DFA.

'Far from satire'

Meanwhile, the National Security Council (NSC) also condemned the AI-generated video, saying that it is "far from satire" and a "calculated attempt to discredit a legal truth," pertaining to the 2016 South China Sea arbitral award.

"Ten years later, China’s inability to accept the facts and legal principles of the Arbitral Award has led the party-state to abandon reason in favor of bullying and racist imagery intended to distract from its unlawful actions," National Security Adviser Eduardo Oban Jr. said in a statement.

"When a legal position cannot be sustained before the law, the effort shifts to undermining the law itself, and those who uphold it. Racist caricatures and manufactured narratives cannot erase legal facts. They only expose the absence of a credible legal answer," he added.

The NSC urged the People's Republic of China to reject the use of what it described as "state-sponsored propaganda" that seeks to dehumanize and degrade the dignity of people.

"We urge China to set aside the 'last refuge' of insults and instead demonstrate the restraint, responsibility, and respect for international law that build confidence and foster cooperation among nations," Oban stressed.

"Adherence to the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award, alongside respect for truth and human dignity, remains the only durable foundation for peace, stability, and mutual trust in our region."

The Philippine government sued China before an international arbitral tribunal in The Hague in 2013. It ruled in favor of the Philippines in July 2016 when it junked China's nine-dash claim over the South China Sea.

China has refused to recognize the ruling. — RSJ/ VDV, GMA News