Tinio condemns racist Chinese state media video dehumanizing Filipinos: "Assert sovereignty free from US-China dictate"

ACT Teachers Representative and Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio today strongly condemned the racist AI-animated video released by China Daily that depicted the Philippines as a “ragged monkey” being controlled by the United States and Japan and subjected to water cannon attack by the Chinese coast guard.

Tinio said the video is not an isolated act of propaganda but a reflection of China’s growing arrogance and contempt for the Filipino people, emboldened by the Philippine government’s lack of an in independent stance on the West Philippine Sea.

“We vigorously denounce this disgusting, racist portrayal of Filipinos. So this is what the state media teaches the Chinese people about their neighboring country? That Filipinos are subhumans incapable of asserting their sovereign rights? The video exposes not strength but the profound weakness and moral bankruptcy of China’s propaganda machinery, which has failed to defend its absurd and baseless claims in the West Philippine Sea through reason, evidence, or law,” Tinio said.

Tinio also pointed to the hypocrisy of Chinese authorities, who threw a diplomatic fit over a single caricature of President Xi Jinping recently, yet now produce a state-sponsored video that baselessly insults the Filipino people.

“The Chinese government cannot have it both ways. They demand absolute respect for their leaders while openly ridiculing and insulting our entire nation. This is not the behavior of a responsible neighbor or a peaceful actor. It is the bullying of a hegemon that believes it can violate our sovereign rights with no consequences,” he added.

Tnio called for an official apology and the immediate take-down of the video.

While condemning the video, Tinio also criticized the Philippine government for its submissive posture to the US and its allies, which he said emboldens such attacks. “The Marcos administration has linked the defense of our sovereign rights to the expansion of US and allied military presence on our territory, turning our soil into a springboard for US imperialist domination and aggression in this region. Despite this, Pres. Marcos has failed to protect Filipino fisherfolk from harassment as well as to secure the energy resources in our EEZ.”

Tinio called on all patriotic Filipinos to unite in condemning both racist Chinese expansionism and the US attempt to use the Philippines as its launching pad for aggression in Asia.

“The Filipino people’s fight for sovereignty is our own. We reject China’s bullying and racism, but we equally reject being dragged into a war that serves only the interests of the US. What we need is an independent foreign policy that asserts our rights against all aggressors, whether it be China, the United States, or any other power,” Tinio ended. ###