MANILA, Philippines — Beijing on Friday said a video published by state-run newspaper China Daily that portrayed Filipinos as monkeys was not produced by the Chinese government, while reiterating its rejection of the 2016 South China Sea arbitral award.
“About the video you mentioned, this is not an act of the government,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a regular press briefing after being asked about the Philippines’ condemnation of the video and its call for the content to be removed.
“I have no comment on that,” he added.
Lin, however, repeated Beijing’s longstanding position on the 2016 arbitral ruling.
READ: PH: China video shows its ‘moral bankruptcy’
“China’s position on the issue of ‘South China Sea arbitration’ is clear and consistent. The ‘arbitration’ is a political farce masqueraded as a legal process,” he said.
“The so-called ‘award’ is illegal, null and void, and has no binding force,” Lin added.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea, waters in the western portion of the country’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone.
It also continues to ignore a 2016 ruling by an international arbitral tribunal that nullified its claims and upheld Manila’s sovereign rights over these waters.
His remarks came after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) filed a diplomatic protest over the AI-generated video and related editorial cartoons published by China Daily.
The DFA said the materials portrayed Filipinos in a racist and dehumanizing manner and demanded that they be taken down.
Posted on July 10, the 58-second video portrayed Filipinos as monkeys while mocking the Philippines’ victory in the landmark 2016 South China Sea arbitral award.
The video also drew condemnation from Philippine officials and lawmakers.
The Department of National Defense, the National Security Council, the Philippine Coast Guard and the National Maritime Council described the content as racist and offensive.
READ: DFA lodges protest over China video depicting Filipinos as monkeys
In a statement issued on Friday, the National Maritime Council said the video could not change the Philippines’ legal rights in the West Philippine Sea.
It said the country’s maritime rights and entitlements are anchored in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the “final and binding” 2016 arbitral award. /das
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