Chinese Embassy urges U.S. to give explanation to the Philippines for disinformation against Chinese COVID-19 vaccines

The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines released a statement on Monday urging the U.S. to give "a long-overdue explanation" for the severe damage it inflicted on the Philippines by the lies it has told regarding China's Sinovac vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic, which local infectious disease experts said has "led to unnecessary suffering and death."

Reuters reported in June that the U.S. military had launched, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a secret campaign to counter what it perceived as China's growing influence in the Philippines, a nation hit especially hard by the deadly virus.

The U.S. government's disinformation campaign against China's anti-COVID vaccine "has caused significant damage in the Philippines on so many levels," a Filipino infectious diseases expert Edsel Salvana was cited by the Manila Times on Saturday.

The campaign "led to unnecessary suffering and deaths among those who were hesitant to take the available vaccines as the anti-Sinovac propaganda forced people to wait for the arrival of the American-made alternative," Salvana said, adding that it was also "disheartening to learn the U.S., as an ally, would do such a thing at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that killed millions worldwide."

The U.S. Marine Corps has recently published a doctrine titled "Deception," according to the U.S. website Military.com, which is a tactic used to deceive enemy and create disinformation. Jeffrey Hill, a U.S. intelligence officer and the lead author of the doctrine, reportedly said that "if you ain't deceiving, you ain't fighting."

Commenting on the series of actions, a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in Manila said that from former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly saying "we lied, we cheated, we stole," to the recent revelation of Pentagon disinformation campaign against Chinese vaccines, and to the latest military doctrine "Deception," facts have shown time and again that to advance selfish agenda in the name of justice, to spread disinformation through deceptive propaganda, and to frame and suppress other countries through manipulating public opinion and perception have become the U.S.' go-to tactics.

"What the U.S. has been doing is not unknown to the world who is wary against such tactics," the spokesperson noted. "Long gone are the days when the U.S. could deceive the world into serving its selfish agenda."

The embassy urged the U.S. to end this kind of wrongful approach at once, stop manipulation through lies, and halt smearing and vilifying other countries.

What's more, the U.S. should give "a long-overdue explanation" to the international community both for its dissemination of disinformation over the years and for the severe damage inflicted by the U.S. "Deception" strategy and anti-Sinovac propaganda on the Philippines.