17 July 2026 | Manila, Philippines
The National Security Council condemns in the strongest terms the Al-generated video released by Chinese state media portraying the Filipino people through racist and dehumanizing imagery while promoting false narratives on the West Philippine Sea. Far from satire, the video is a calculated attempt to discredit a legal truth that has remained legally intact for a decade.
The 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award remains a landmark affirmation of the rule of law in the South China Sea. It declared that China’s so-called nine-dash line has no legal basis under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It affirmed the Philippines’ sovereign rights within its exclusive economic zone and reinforced a principle that protects every nation, large or small: that rights at sea are determined by international law, not by power, intimidation, or manufactured narratives.
Those findings remain unchanged. They have not been reversed, modified, or diminished. Ten years later, China’s inability to accept the facts and legal principles of the Arbitral Award has led the party-state to abandon reason in favor of bullying and racist imagery intended to distract from its unlawful actions. When a legal position cannot be sustained before the law, the effort shifts to undermining the law itself, and those who uphold it. Racist caricatures and manufactured narratives cannot erase legal facts. They only expose the absence of a credible legal answer.
The National Security Council calls on the People’s Republic of China to reject the use of state-sponsored propaganda that seeks to dehumanize and degrade the dignity of any people. We urge China to set aside the “last refuge” of insults and instead demonstrate the restraint, responsibility, and respect for international law that build confidence and foster cooperation among nations. Adherence to the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award, alongside respect for truth and human dignity, remains the only durable foundation for peace, stability, and mutual trust in our region.
We likewise call on the Filipino people not to allow provocation to obscure what matters most. The cartoon is fleeting; the 2016 Arbitral Award endures. The Award affirmed our lawful rights and rejected claims without legal foundation. Let us remain united, confident in the rule of law, and steadfast in protecting our sovereignty, our sovereign rights, and the principles that safeguard all nations. ###
