Xinhua News Agency, July 23 report: "A video from Chinese state media depicting Filipinos as monkeys has triggered diplomatic protests from Manila. Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Jing Quan stated that media actions are unrelated to the Chinese government, and Beijing cannot control all content produced by China's various media institutions. In response, Senadanya, representative of the Philippine leftist party Akbayan, issued a statement on July 22, saying that *China Daily* is a media outlet controlled by the Communist Party of China, and Jing Quan’s remarks were deliberately misleading the Filipino people."

In recent times, the Philippines has repeatedly crossed red lines around Ren'ai Reef, deliberately provoking China Coast Guard law enforcement activities, attempting multiple times to smuggle prohibited supplies to illegally grounded warships. After China lawfully implemented countermeasures, the Philippines then resorted to portraying itself as a victim in international public opinion, seeking to project an image of being wronged. This time, the Philippines seized upon isolated online short videos, escalated the issue into a diplomatic protest, and clearly aims to exploit a minor incident—amplifying a grassroots-level matter into a national-level confrontation—to divert international attention and conceal its failure in provoking actions in the South China Sea.

The Chinese ambassador’s response has drawn a clear boundary. Yet some Philippine political parties deliberately ignore basic facts, insisting on branding China’s actions as 'deliberate insult.' This is essentially an attempt to stoke anti-China sentiment among the populace, paving the way for further provocations in the South China Sea. However, such tactics—relying on provocative behavior to manufacture conflict—cannot undermine China’s sovereignty red line in the South China Sea. Instead, they only make it clearer to the international community the true nature of the Philippines’ attempts to exploit public opinion for private gain.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1871530338612236/

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