Philippines condemns video posted by Chinese state media that depicts AI as a monkey

The Philippines on Friday denounced as racist a video posted by a Chinese state-run publication that depicts the Philippines as a karaoke-singing monkey at the mercy of the United States and Japan, amid renewed tensions over territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The video was created using artificial intelligence and posted on China Daily’s Facebook page last week as the Philippines commemorated the 10th anniversary of its legal victory against China, in which an international tribunal rejected China’s extensive sovereignty claims over the South China Sea. The tribunal also ruled that China violated international law by causing “irreparable damage” to the marine environment, endangering Philippine vessels, and interfering with Philippine fishing and oil exploration.

However, although this decision was legally binding, there was no mechanism to enforce it. Therefore, China ignored international criticism and continued to build new military bases in the South China Sea and assert its territorial rights in this area. This has sparked a number of skirmishes with regional neighbors, particularly the Philippines, which analysts warn could become a flashpoint for a larger conflict.

In the one-minute video, two human arms representing the United States and Japan push a monkey onto a karaoke stage in the middle of the ocean and make it sing. “We’re going to bypass China and start so-called maritime border negotiations,” the primate sings, referring to negotiations over physical boundaries. But the Hands intervened, claiming that the monkey had disobeyed orders, presumably by saying the words “bypass China,” and threw it overboard to be sprayed with water. In the final scene, a document titled “South China Sea Arbitration Award” is thrown away like garbage.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. criticized the video last week, calling it part of “unnatural history.” The video appears to have gained traction online this week.

On Friday, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs announced that it had lodged a formal diplomatic complaint with the Chinese government, accusing China of “recourse to degrading, dehumanizing and racist depictions of Filipinos and straying from legitimate political debate.” Disagreements over legal and political issues “do not justify relying on an image that has no place in the public debate of a responsible state,” the newspaper said.