The Philippines has lodged a diplomatic protest with China over what it called the “racist depiction” of Filipinos in a series of videos published by state-backed newspaper China Daily.
The videos, which depicted Filipinos as monkeys, went “beyond political debate” and resorted to “demeaning, dehumanizing, and racist depictions of Filipinos,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Maria Theresa Lazaro raised the issue directly with China’s ambassador to the country, while the department also lodged a formal diplomatic protest condemning the videos.
Its embassy in Beijing separately published an open letter addressed to the editor of China Daily, flagging the outlet for “breach of editorial norms and principles”, and urging the publication to “uphold dignity, respect, and truth” in public discourse.
China Daily describes itself as China’s most-read English-language newspaper. It claims a combined audience of more than 470 million people. It has more than 110 million followers on Facebook, where the videos were shared.
The videos were published as part of a series marking the 10th anniversary of the 2016 South China Sea arbitral award, in which an international tribunal ruled overwhelmingly in favour of the Philippines and found that China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea had no legal basis under international law.
Beijing has rejected the ruling and continues to assert sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, where tensions have remained high.