The Philippines yesterday condemned as racist a video posted by the state-run China Daily depicting Filipinos as monkeys, saying it had lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing over the “offensive, distressing and unacceptable” imagery.Manila has demanded the removal of the video, which it called “contemptible propaganda,” with the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs saying 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 video on the China Daily’s Facebook account shows a monkey dressed in Filipino attire being directed on what to sing by arms representing the US and Japan. After being called “stupid,” the monkey grabs a sheet of lyrics bearing the words “South China Sea arbitration award” before being thrown into the sea and blasted by a vessel’s water cannon.
Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro speaks at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on May 31.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the video did not represent China officially and that it had no comment on it.The video was posted on Friday last week, coinciding with Philippine events marking the 10th anniversary of a landmark Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea.
