The Philippines’ top defense official slammed what he called “pretend journalists” at Asia’s premiere defense dialogue on the same day that he criticized Chinese military officials at a panel for asking “propaganda spiels disguised as questions.”
At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Philippine Defense Secretary Giliberto Teodoro, Jr. again continued his streak as among the loudest in the Philippine government to call out China for its disinformation operations and hypocrisy, particularly on issues related to Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.
Teodoro led the Philippine delegation to the Shangri-La Dialogue, a premiere defense forum in the region. His strong statements came in several waves — his opening salvo was criticizing China for not sending a delegation to the dialogue.
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Tensions between the Philippines and China have remained high in recent years, especially after the Marcos administration made it policy for the Philippines to be more assertive in its rights and claims in the West Philippine Sea, or parts of the South China Sea that are within the Philippine exclusive economic zone.
The Philippines has reported repeated incidents of harassment in the South China Sea — in the form of tailing, dangerous maneuvers, water cannoning, and ramming — at the hands of Chinese vessels, typically of the China Coast Guard.
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Some insights about this:
[Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Romeo] Brawner and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. slammed the Media Unlocked video for “twisting” narratives and portraying the Philippines and its officials in a negative light.
Media Unlocked didn’t stop there.
On Thursday, June 5, it released a video targeting Teodoro this time, blaming the Philippine defense chief for labeling its hosts as “spies.” China did not send an official delegation to the Shangri-La Dialogue, and instead sent what Teodoro called “pretend journalists.” […]
This is the latest in China’s moves to spread propaganda attacking Filipino officials and figures who are critical of Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea.[…]
An OCTA Research survey from March 2024 found that an overwhelming 91% of adult Filipinos distrust China. Ahead of the 2025 midterm election, a Social Weather Stations survey from March this year found that 78% of Filipinos prefer candidates “who believe in asserting the Philippines’ rights against China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea.”
In a video shared by the AFP’s Facebook page, Teodoro and Brawner discussed their respective encounters with the Media Unlocked hosts, and pushed back against the “misleading and malicious narrative” they circulated. The video has over 738,000 views and over 10,000 shares as of writing.
This is unrelated to the content, but do you think the overuse of the word “slams” in recent headlinesmoght be a symptom of model decay?
Like maybe some AI noticed the word “slams” in headlines, so it started using it when producing headlines so the word “slams” becomes even more prevalent in headlines so new models scrape even more headlines with “slams” in it and the cycle just continues as AI start to think all headlines have to include the word slams?