MANILA (Bloomberg): China Daily’s AI-generated video of a monkey wearing Filipino national costume has triggered a diplomatic protest from the Philippines, raising tensions days before Beijing’s top diplomat joins a regional meeting in Manila.
The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs said the content from the Chinese state media was "deeply offensive, distressing, and unacceptable.” The animated video also depicted the monkey as acting on orders from US and Japan, and being hit by a water cannon. It also called the 2016 international arbitral ruling that rejected Beijing’s expansive claims over the South China Sea as "litter.”
"The Philippines demands that the offensive material be taken down, calls for the immediate cessation of such irresponsible content, and urges China to uphold dignity, respect, and truth in public discourse,” the department said in a statement late Thursday. It later said that a formal protest was lodged on Friday morning.
The video "does not represent the government position,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday, while repeating that the 2016 ruling is "illegal, null and void.”
The controversy arose shortly before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ foreign ministers meeting in Manila next week. It also adds to lingering tensions between China and the Philippines over overlapping South China Sea claims.
The Philippine Foreign Affairs Department also said China’s state media outlet went beyond "legitimate political debate and employs blatantly demeaning, dehumanizing, and racist depictions of Filipinos.” The video was released as the Philippines commemorated the 10th anniversary of an international tribunal ruling that found no legal basis in Beijing’s sea claims.
Manila’s Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. likewise hit out at Beijing.
"This mockery of the lawful 2016 Arbitral Award and the video’s glorification of violence against the Filipino people and soldiers expose the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of China’s propaganda machine,” he said in a separate statement.
The Philippines is "justified in our policy of no Ministerial or AFP defense engagements or contacts with the CCP or any of its agencies,” Teodoro said, referring to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Chinese Communist Party.
"The recent spate of schizophrenic behavior of the Chinese Communist Party is too clear to disregard or to ignore,” said Teodoro, who was sanctioned by China last month. "This latest act of dehumanization further reveals them as neither a secure and confident actor nor a trustworthy neighbor.”
--With assistance from Philip Glamann -- ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
