Manila protests ‘racist’ portrayal of Filipinos in China Daily videos

The diplomatic spat is rooted successful the ongoing quality betwixt China and the Philippines implicit sovereignty successful the South China Sea.

The Philippines has lodged a diplomatic protestation with China implicit what it called the “racist depiction” of Filipinos successful a bid of videos published by state-backed paper China Daily.

The videos, which depicted Filipinos arsenic monkeys, went “beyond governmental debate” and resorted to “demeaning, dehumanizing, and racist depictions of Filipinos,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said successful a connection connected Friday.

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Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Maria Theresa Lazaro raised the contented straight with China’s ambassador to the country, portion the section besides lodged a ceremonial diplomatic protestation condemning the videos.

Its embassy successful Beijing separately published an unfastened missive addressed to the exertion of China Daily, flagging the outlet for “breach of editorial norms and principles”, and urging the work to “uphold dignity, respect, and truth” successful nationalist discourse.

China Daily describes itself arsenic China’s most-read English-language newspaper. It claims a combined assemblage of much than 470 cardinal people. It has much than 110 cardinal followers connected Facebook, wherever the videos were shared.

The videos were published arsenic portion of a bid marking the 10th day of the 2016 South China Sea arbitral award, successful which an planetary tribunal ruled overwhelmingly successful favour of the Philippines and recovered that China’s sweeping claims successful the South China Sea had nary ineligible ground nether planetary law.

Beijing has rejected the ruling and continues to asseverate sovereignty implicit astir of the South China Sea, wherever tensions person remained high.

The quality centres connected features including the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, some of which are claimed by China and the Philippines.

The South China Sea is estimated to person 11 cardinal barrels of untapped lipid and 190 trillion cubic feet of earthy gas.

The quality has led to repeated confrontations betwixt Chinese coastguard vessels and Philippine ships, including collisions and the use of h2o cannon that Manila says person endangered its unit and fishermen.

The Philippines has received diplomatic backing from the United States and different allies including Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, which person repeatedly called for respect for the 2016 arbitral ruling.

In a associated connection released this month, the countries reaffirmed their enactment for what they described arsenic the tribunal’s “legally binding” and “definitive” findings and warned against “unilateral actions including by unit oregon coercion that endanger bid and stableness successful the region”.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and China Daily had not publically responded to the Philippine protestation astatine the clip of publication.