Philippines condemns Chinese media for AI monkey video on sea claims

The Philippines has formally condemned China Daily after the state-run Chinese outlet posted an AI-generated video depicting a monkey being forced to sing Beijing’s territorial claims over the South China Sea — a move Manila called deeply offensive and beneath any standard of diplomatic conduct.

The video, which circulated widely on social media platforms this week, shows a computer-generated primate appearing to lip-sync lyrics asserting China’s so-called nine-dash line ownership over disputed waters. It’s the latest escalation in an ongoing information war between the two countries, and it didn’t take long for Philippine officials to fire back.

Manila’s sharp response

The Philippine government wasted no time calling the video what it is: dehumanizing propaganda. A foreign affairs official described the content as “a new low” from Beijing and said the video was a deliberate attempt to humiliate the Filipino people rather than engage in any legitimate discussion about overlapping maritime claims.

“This kind of material has no place in any serious diplomatic discourse,” the official said. “It’s racist, it’s provocative, and it tells you everything about how China actually views its neighbors.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said it was reviewing its options, including summoning the Chinese ambassador for a formal explanation.

A pattern of provocation

But this isn’t an isolated incident. Over the past 18 months, tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea have escalated dramatically. Chinese coast guard vessels have used water cannons on Philippine supply boats at least 9 times since early 2023, and there have been more than a dozen documented laser incidents targeting Filipino sailors near Scarborough Shoal and the Second Thomas Shoal.

The China Daily video appears to be part of a broader content strategy. Beijing has leaned heavily into AI-generated media to push its territorial narratives, particularly in response to the Philippines’ increasingly assertive stance under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Still, depicting a foreign nation’s people as animals crosses a line that few expected even state media to cross openly.

Regional and international reaction

The video drew swift criticism beyond Manila. Human rights observers and several Southeast Asian commentators flagged the content as racially coded, noting the long and ugly history of using primate imagery to demean Asian and non-white populations. The United States, which has a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, called the video “unhelpful and inflammatory.”

China has not formally responded to the condemnation as of publication.

What comes next

The incident is likely to complicate already strained bilateral talks. The Philippines and China had been conducting back-channel discussions on managing flashpoints in the South China Sea, but diplomatic sources say those conversations are now on ice.

Manila has made clear it won’t be intimidated into silence.

And with a scheduled ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting just weeks away, the monkey video may end up doing more damage to China’s regional standing than any single patrol boat confrontation ever could.