Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr. said that an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated video released by a Chinese state-run media organization portraying Filipinos as “stupid monkeys” clad in a Barong Tagalog justified the Philippines’ policy of avoiding defense engagements with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its agencies.

“We are justified in our policy of no Ministerial or AFP defense engagements or contacts with the CCP or any of its agencies,” Teodoro said in a statement on Thursday night, July 16.

Last July 10, China's state-run China Daily released an AI-generated video portraying Filipinos as monkeys that were depicted as foolish and easily manipulated by the United States and Japan.

In the video, a monkey wearing Barong Tagalog was instructed by arms representing the two countries on what to sing. After being called “stupid,” the monkey pulls out a sheet labeled “South China Sea arbitration award,” before being thrown into the sea and blasted by a ship's water cannon.

The video was posted two days before the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the July 12, 2016 Arbitral Award, which invalidated China's sweeping claims in the South China Sea. Beijing has refused to recognize the ruling.

“The post of China Daily depicting the Filipinos as monkeys is a revealing insight into what the Chinese communist apparatus thinks of the Filipino people,” Teodoro said.

“This mockery of the lawful 2016 Arbitral Award and the video's glorification of violence against the Filipino people and soldiers expose the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of China's propaganda machine,” he added.

Further, Teodoro said the video reflected China's inability to defend its maritime claims through legal means.

“Such contemptible propaganda is a disgrace to any State that claims to exercise responsible regional leadership. It reveals the weakness of a government that resorts to racism, threats, and manufactured hatred because it has utterly failed to defend its ridiculous claims through reason, evidence, or law,” he said.

“The recent spate of schizophrenic behavior of the Chinese Communist Party is too clear to disregard or to ignore. This latest act of dehumanization further reveals them as neither a secure and confident actor nor a trustworthy neighbor,” Teodoro stressed.

Relations between Manila and Beijing have remained strained because of repeated confrontations in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). China has also imposed sanctions on Teodoro, while the two countries continue to dispute activities around Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough or Panatag Shoal).

Meanwhile, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for WPS Rear Adm. Jay Tarriela also denounced the video, saying it reflected racism and disrespect toward Filipinos.

“Is it not infuriating that the very country that is undermining our rights in the West Philippine Sea has the audacity to produce a video portraying Filipinos as monkeys who simply follow Japan and the United States?” he asked.

Tarriela recalled that China had earlier protested a caricature of its leader.

He also challenged lawmakers who previously criticized him over a caricature of President Xi Jinping he presented during a forum to speak up against China’s alleged racist video of Filipinos.

“I remember some senators saying I should apologize to China. Will they now also say that China should apologize because this video humiliates us as Filipinos?” Tarriela said.

“My fellow Filipinos, we are not monkeys. Let us not allow ourselves to be treated as monkeys. Only beasts treat fellow human beings this way. Those who refuse to follow international law are worse than beasts,” he added.