Read The Diplomat, get to know Asia-Pacific
According to a Reuters investigation, the Pentagon has used social media accounts to sow doubts about the Chinese Sinovac vaccine.
The Philippine Department of Health is seeking to open an investigation into an alleged covert crusade of influence by the U. S. military aimed at countering what Washington perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines: the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the weekend, the news firm Reuters published an explosive investigation revealing a clandestine Pentagon operation to discredit the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, which Beijing sold and donated in gigantic quantities to the Philippine government. The report was based on interviews with more than two dozen current and former U. S. officials, as well as military contractors, as well as social media analysts and educational researchers.
He said the U. S. military used fake accounts on social media platforms to spread propaganda that “was aimed at casting doubt on the protection and efficacy of vaccines and other vital aids provided through China. “
“Through fake web accounts designed to impersonate Filipinos, the military’s propaganda efforts were transformed into an anti-vaccine campaign,” the report said. “Social media posts have denounced the quality of masks, control kits and the first vaccine that would be available in the Philippines: the Chinese inoculation Sinovac. »
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Health Undersecretary Albert Domingo said the Reuters findings “deserve to be studied and heard through the relevant government in the affected countries. “He declined to ask questions further, The Inquirer reported.
The campaign reportedly took place at a time when the Philippines was severely affected by the coronavirus. According to the tracker Our World in Data, 66,864 Filipinos have been shown to have died from COVID-19 as of June 2, second only to Indonesia. In capita terms, the country recorded the third-highest proportion of COVID-19 deaths in the region, along with Malaysia and Indonesia.
According to the Reuters investigation, the Pentagon has several fake Tagalog social media accounts on platforms such as Twitter (now X), Instagram, and Facebook to spread the message that Chinese vaccines are harmful and belittle any help from China. To take a representative example, one article read: “From China: PPE, mask, vaccine: FALSE. But the coronavirus is real.
The crusade also denigrated vaccines produced through other rivals and eventually spread beyond Southeast Asia to other parts of the world. In some Muslim countries, the crusade was purportedly intended to “amplify the arguable claim that, because vaccines contain red meat gelatin, Chinese injections can simply be considered forbidden by Islamic law. “
The crusade for influence began in the spring of 2020 and continued until mid-2021, when President Rodrigo Duterte was in place in Manila. Relations between the United States and the Philippines have deteriorated since Duterte came into force in 2016, as the bellicose and erratic leader. attacked the United States and turned to China for access to investment for important infrastructure. According to Reuters, the Pentagon operation, despite everything, was halted thanks to Biden’s management in mid-2021. It is to his credit that he has introduced an internal review of the clandestine crusade.
Reuters quoted a Pentagon spokesman as saying that the U. S. military “uses a variety of platforms, including social media, to counter such malign influence attacks against the United States, its allies and partners. “He also noted that China has begun to launch a “disinformation crusade. “falsely accuse the United States of the spread of COVID-19. “
The survey confirms that, in addition to confronting the entire world with a not unusual threat, the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified existing geopolitical fault lines. Needless to say, this also has a bad Washington symbol. Reuters investigation was filled with comments from public fitness experts, both Filipino and foreign, condemning efforts to stoke concern about Chinese vaccines, warning that they may have contributed to the country’s slow vaccination and higher COVID-19 death rate.
According to available data, the country is lagging behind many of its Southeast Asian neighbors in the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccines. (The Philippine Department of Health claims to have administered 181. 6 million doses through the end of 2023, of which 48. 7 million were Sinovac shots. )
Although most studies have shown that Chinese-made vaccines are less effective than mRNA vaccines produced by U. S. corporations Pfizer and Moderna, they can still save lives. As one former Philippine health secretary put it: “I’m sure there are a lot of other people who died of COVID who didn’t want to die of COVID. “
Unsurprisingly, these revelations have been a propaganda bonanza for the Chinese government, apparently in the face of Beijing’s claim, also heard in sectors of the Philippine left, that US aid to the Philippines is largely motivated by its preference to maintain its military and strategic primacy and stay China down.
China’s scathing tabloid Global Times published an editorial noting that the Reuters report “fully exposes the U. S. position toward the Philippines, not only as a ‘pawn’ but also as an ‘expendable’ whole. The policy of “confrontation” toward China, which has intensified since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in mid-2022, was the result of U. S. “brainwashing. “
All of this deprives the Philippines of any influence in its relations with the great powers and of the many reasons why the country is, and will likely remain, one of the most pro-American nations on the planet. But the Philippines has experienced periods of anti-American backlash in its post-independence history, of which Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency is only the most recent. These clandestine operations are not yet offering water to skeptical Filipinos and reasons to question the friendship of their longtime security partner.
Proponents of the operation may also simply argue that the United States will have to play a dirty role to succeed in its “new bloodless war” with China and may also simply point to similar influence operations carried out through the Chinese government as well as through through the United States in the Cold War with China. At the same time, such revelations would likely call into question common American claims of ethical superiority over its rivals. Looking at how the United States and China have fared during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard not to think of them, if not as ethically equivalent, then at least as parallel “strategic narcissists,” as Carnegie’s Evan Feigenbaum described them this week. Endowment for International Peace. desires and perspectives of small countries.
Understand Asia-Pacific’s biggest issues with a subscription to The Diplomat.
The Philippine Department of Health is seeking to open an investigation into an alleged covert crusade of influence by the U. S. military aimed at countering what Washington perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines: the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the weekend, the news firm Reuters published an explosive investigation revealing a clandestine Pentagon operation to discredit the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, which Beijing sold and donated in gigantic quantities to the Philippine government. The report was based on interviews with more than two dozen current and former U. S. officials, as well as military contractors, as well as social media analysts and educational researchers.
He said the U. S. military used fake accounts on social media platforms to spread propaganda that “was aimed at casting doubt on the protection and efficacy of vaccines and other vital aids provided through China. “
“Thanks to fake web accounts aimed at impersonating Filipinos, the military’s propaganda efforts have turned into an anti-vaccine campaign,” the report said. “Social media posts have denounced the quality of masks, control kits and the first vaccine to be launched In the Philippines you can get the Chinese Sinovac vaccine. “
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Health Undersecretary Albert Domingo said the Reuters findings “deserve to be studied and heard through the relevant government in the affected countries. “He declined to ask questions further, The Inquirer reported.
The campaign reportedly took place at a time when the Philippines was severely affected by the coronavirus. According to the tracker Our World in Data, 66,864 Filipinos have been shown to have died from COVID-19 as of June 2, second only to Indonesia. In capita terms, the country recorded the third-highest proportion of COVID-19 deaths in the region, along with Malaysia and Indonesia.
According to the Reuters investigation, the Pentagon has several fake Tagalog social media accounts on platforms such as Twitter (now X), Instagram, and Facebook to spread the message that Chinese vaccines are harmful and belittle any help from China. To take a representative example, one article read: “From China: PPE, mask, vaccine: FALSE. But the coronavirus is real.
The crusade also denigrated vaccines produced through other rivals and eventually spread beyond Southeast Asia to other parts of the world. In some Muslim countries, the crusade was purportedly intended to “amplify the arguable claim that, because vaccines contain red meat gelatin, Chinese injections can simply be considered forbidden by Islamic law. “
The crusade for influence began in the spring of 2020 and continued until mid-2021, when President Rodrigo Duterte was in place in Manila. Relations between the United States and the Philippines have deteriorated since Duterte came into force in 2016, as the bellicose and erratic leader. attacked the United States and turned to China for access to investment for important infrastructure. According to Reuters, the Pentagon operation, despite everything, was halted thanks to Biden’s management in mid-2021. It is to his credit that he has introduced an internal review of the clandestine crusade.
Reuters quoted a Pentagon spokesman as saying that the U. S. military “uses a variety of platforms, including social media, to counter such malign influence attacks against the United States, its allies and partners. “He also noted that China has begun to launch a “disinformation crusade. “falsely accuse the United States of the spread of COVID-19. “
The survey confirms that, in addition to confronting the entire world with a not unusual threat, the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified existing geopolitical fault lines. Needless to say, this also has a bad Washington symbol. Reuters investigation was filled with comments from public fitness experts, both Filipino and foreign, condemning efforts to stoke concern about Chinese vaccines, warning that they may have contributed to the country’s slow vaccination and higher COVID-19 death rate.
According to available data, the country is lagging behind many of its Southeast Asian neighbors in the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccines. (The Philippine Department of Health claims to have administered 181. 6 million doses through the end of 2023, of which 48. 7 million were Sinovac shots. )
Although most studies have shown that Chinese-made vaccines are less effective than mRNA vaccines produced by U. S. corporations Pfizer and Moderna, they can still save lives. As one former Philippine health secretary put it: “I’m sure there are a lot of other people who died of COVID who didn’t want to die of COVID. “
Unsurprisingly, these revelations have been a propaganda bonanza for the Chinese government, apparently in the face of Beijing’s claim, also heard in sectors of the Philippine left, that US aid to the Philippines is largely motivated by its preference to maintain its military and strategic primacy and stay China down.
China’s scathing tabloid Global Times published an editorial claiming that the Reuters report “fully exposes the U. S. position toward the Philippines, not only as a ‘pawn,’ but also as a ‘consumable. ‘The policy of “confrontation” toward China, which has intensified since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in mid-2022, was the result of U. S. “brainwashing. “
All of this deprives the Philippines of any influence in its relations with the great powers and of the many reasons why the country is, and will likely remain, one of the most pro-American nations on the planet. But the Philippines has experienced periods of anti-American backlash in its post-independence history, of which Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency is only the most recent. These clandestine operations are not yet offering water to skeptical Filipinos and reasons to question the friendship of their longtime security partner.
Proponents of the operation may also simply argue that the United States will have to play a dirty role in order to succeed in its “bloodless new war” with China and may also simply point to similar influence operations carried out through the Chinese government as well as through the United States in the Cold War with China. At the same time, such revelations would possibly cast doubt on common American claims of ethical superiority over rivals. Looking at how the U. S. and China have fared during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard not to think of them, if not as ethically equivalent, at least as parallel “strategic narcissists,” as Evan Feigenbaum of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace described them this week. desires and perspectives of small countries.
The Philippine Department of Health is seeking to open an investigation into an alleged covert crusade of influence by the U. S. military aimed at countering what Washington perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines: the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the weekend, the news firm Reuters published an explosive investigation revealing a clandestine Pentagon operation to discredit the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, which Beijing sold and donated in gigantic quantities to the Philippine government. The report was based on interviews with more than two dozen current and former U. S. officials, as well as military contractors, as well as social media analysts and educational researchers.
Sebastian Strangio is Southeast Asia editor at The Diplomat.