Philippines condemns 'racist' Chinese AI video depicting it as abused monkey

On July 10th, China Daily published an artificial intelligence video that reduced an entire nation to a caricature: a monkey dressed in a Filipino shirt, screaming as it was shoved onto a makeshift karaoke stage by arms waving Japanese and American flags. The creature sang the wrong song, pulled out a document labeled "South China Sea arbitration award," and was promptly hurled into the ocean and blasted by a water cannon. The Philippines responded with fury, calling the clip dehumanizing and racist—a characterization that cuts to something deeper than mere insult. The video was not an isolated provocation but one frame in a sustained campaign of mockery: China Daily's Facebook page had become a gallery of cartoons depicting Manila as a clown, a snake, and now a helpless animal being bullied by larger powers.

The timing was deliberate. This week marked ten years since the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled decisively that China's sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea had no foundation in international law. Beijing rejected the verdict then and has continued to reject it now, insisting the tribunal had no authority to judge the matter. For a decade, the ruling has hung in the air between the two countries—a legal victory for the Philippines that has changed nothing on the water.

The South China Sea dispute centers on two contested areas: the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, which sits just over 100 miles from the Philippine coast but 500 miles from China. These waters have become a theater of escalating confrontation. Chinese Coast Guard vessels routinely deploy high-pressure water cannons against Philippine ships operating in the disputed zones, causing injuries and structural damage. In recent months, the tensions have grown sharper. In June, Beijing installed a floating barrier at the entrance to Scarborough Shoal—a blockade that the Philippines protested diplomatically until it was removed. That same month, China barred the Philippine defence secretary, Gilbert Teodoro, and his family from entering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Manila's foreign ministry issued a formal statement condemning what it called a departure from responsible statecraft. "Disagreement over legal and political issues does not justify resorting to disturbing imagery, which has no place in the civil public discourse of a responsible state," the ministry said, demanding the video be taken down. The clip remained on Facebook. The defence ministry went further, calling the video contemptible propaganda that exposed "the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of China's propaganda machine." Teodoro himself spoke of what he termed "schizophrenic behaviour" from the Chinese Communist Party—language suggesting not just anger but bewilderment at the escalation.

China Daily's caption accompanying the monkey video restated Beijing's position with characteristic defiance. The arbitration award, it claimed, had brought no peace but only confrontation masquerading as law. The Philippines, it suggested, had become a pawn in someone else's geopolitical game, clinging to external forces and stirring up trouble. The framing inverted the narrative entirely: Beijing cast itself as the aggrieved party, defending its interests against foreign manipulation of its smaller neighbor.

What makes this moment significant is not the video itself—crude propaganda is not new—but what it signals about the deterioration of the relationship. The monkey clip is one piece of a broader rhetorical assault, a campaign of mockery that suggests Beijing has abandoned even the pretense of diplomatic restraint. Physical confrontations at sea have grown more frequent and more dangerous, with crews wielding swords, spears, and knives. The legal framework that might have resolved the dispute—the Hague ruling—has been rendered irrelevant by Beijing's refusal to acknowledge it. And now, as the anniversary of that ruling passes, China is not engaging in quiet defiance but in public humiliation, using artificial intelligence to dehumanize a neighboring state.

The Philippines has condemned the video. Chinese authorities have not responded. The clip remains online. And in the waters between the two countries, the standoffs continue.