Chinese state media depicts the Philippines as a monkey in an AI video; Manila condemns it
China Daily answered a decade-old South China Sea ruling not with legal argument but with a racist caricature, and Manila's foreign ministry demanded it be pulled.
Why it's worth posting
The surprise here is the substitution. When a state outlet responds to an international arbitration ruling, the expected move is a legal or diplomatic counter-argument. China Daily instead posted an AI-generated video depicting the Philippines as a monkey in a Filipino shirt, shoved onto a rickety stage by arms bearing US and Japanese flags, then flung into the sea and blasted by a water cannon. Manila's foreign ministry called it dehumanising and racist and demanded its removal, noting that disagreement over legal issues does not justify disturbing imagery. The clip was still live when the story was reported, and Chinese authorities had not responded to the rebuke. That gap between what a diplomatic reply usually looks like and what this was is the story worth posting about.
The backdrop matters. Roughly a decade ago the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines, finding China's expansive South China Sea claims had no legal basis under international law. Beijing has ignored the ruling, saying the tribunal lacks jurisdiction. China Daily's caption to the monkey clip frames the arbitration award as "a source of confrontation dressed up as law" — a substantive position, but the video around it makes no argument at all.
What makes the clip land differently is that its imagery tracks real events. The water cannon in the animation is not invented: the Chinese Coast Guard routinely uses high-pressure water cannons against Philippine vessels in the disputed shoals, causing damage and injuries. That turns the cartoon from mockery into a depiction of force actually used, which sharpens Manila's objection.
The monkey video is not a one-off. It is part of a series of China Daily posts in recent weeks mocking the Philippines, including depictions of Manila as a clown and a snake. Read together, they signal a deliberate messaging choice rather than a stray post. For a creator, the honest frame is the contrast: an institution that could have argued a legal case instead chose caricature, and a government that condemned it as racist got no reply.
Angles to take
Lead on the substitution: a state outlet answered an international legal ruling not with counter-argument but with a racist caricature, and that choice itself is the news.
Write this post →Focus on the imagery mirroring reality \u2014 the animated water cannon reflects a tactic the Chinese Coast Guard actually uses against Philippine vessels, which is what elevates the clip from a joke to a grievance.
Write this post →Zoom out to the pattern: the monkey video sits alongside clown and snake depictions in a weeks-long series, suggesting a coordinated messaging posture rather than an isolated post.
Write this post →Contrast the two responses: Manila condemned the clip as dehumanising and demanded removal, while it stayed live and Chinese authorities offered no reply \u2014 a stark asymmetry in how the dispute is being handled.
Write this post →