Philippines lodges diplomatic protest over China Daily 'racist' videos depicting Filipinos as monkeys

The Philippines has lodged a diplomatic protest with China over what its Department of Foreign Affairs called the "racist depiction" of Filipinos in a series of videos published by the state-backed newspaper China Daily [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/18/manila-protests-racist-portrayal-of-filipinos-in-china-daily-videos]. The department said on Friday that the videos, which depicted Filipinos as monkeys, went "beyond political debate" and resorted to "demeaning, dehumanizing, and racist depictions of Filipinos."

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Maria Theresa Lazaro raised the issue directly with China's ambassador to the Philippines, while the department separately lodged a formal protest condemning the videos [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/18/manila-protests-racist-portrayal-of-filipinos-in-china-daily-videos]. Manila's embassy in Beijing also published an open letter to the editor of China Daily, accusing the outlet of a "breach of editorial norms and principles" and urging it to "uphold dignity, respect, and truth" in public discourse.

The videos were published as part of a series marking the 10th anniversary of the 2016 South China Sea arbitral award, in which an international tribunal ruled overwhelmingly in favour of the Philippines and found China's sweeping claims in the waterway had no legal basis under international law [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/18/manila-protests-racist-portrayal-of-filipinos-in-china-daily-videos]. Beijing has rejected the ruling and continues to assert sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, where tensions have remained high.

The dispute centres on features including the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, both claimed by China and the Philippines, in a sea estimated to hold 11 billion barrels of untapped oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/18/manila-protests-racist-portrayal-of-filipinos-in-china-daily-videos]. The long-running confrontation has repeatedly brought Chinese coastguard vessels and Philippine ships into conflict, including collisions and the use of water cannon that Manila says have endangered its personnel and fishermen.

The Philippines has received diplomatic backing from the United States and other allies including Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, which have repeatedly called for respect for the 2016 arbitral ruling [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/18/manila-protests-racist-portrayal-of-filipinos-in-china-daily-videos]. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and China Daily had not publicly responded to the Philippine protest at the time of publication.