Manila protests ‘racist’ portrayal of Filipinos in China Daily videos

The diplomatic spat is rooted in the ongoing dispute between China and the Philippines over sovereignty in the China-sea" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="8346" data-entity-type="location">South China Sea.The Philippines has lodged a diplomatic protest with China over what it called the “racist depiction” of Filipinos in a series of videos published by state-backed newspaper China-daily" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="12556" data-entity-type="organization">China Daily.The videos, which depicted Filipinos as monkeys, went “beyond political debate” and resorted to “demeaning, dehumanizing, and racist depictions of Filipinos,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Some fear US-Philippines war games are drawing conflict closer to homelist 2 of 3China bars Philippines defence chief as China-sea" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="8346" data-entity-type="location">South China Sea spat sails onwardslist 3 of 3US leads concern after China fired a long-range missile into Pacific oceanend of listForeign Affairs Undersecretary Maria Theresa Lazaro raised the issue directly with China’s ambassador to the country, while the department also lodged a formal diplomatic protest condemning the videos.Its embassy in Beijing separately published an open letter addressed to the editor of China-daily" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="12556" data-entity-type="organization">China Daily, flagging the outlet for “breach of editorial norms and principles”, and urging the publication to “uphold dignity, respect, and truth” in public discourse.China-daily" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="12556" data-entity-type="organization">China Daily describes itself as China’s most-read English-language newspaper. It claims a combined audience of more than 470 million people. It has more than 110 million followers on Facebook, where the videos were shared.The videos were published as part of a series marking the 10th anniversary of the 2016 China-sea-arbitral-award" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="167145" data-entity-type="event">China-sea" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="8346" data-entity-type="location">South China Sea arbitral award, in which an international tribunal ruled overwhelmingly in favour of the Philippines and found that China’s sweeping claims in the China-sea" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="8346" data-entity-type="location">South China Sea had no legal basis under international law.Beijing has rejected the ruling and continues to assert sovereignty over most of the China-sea" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="8346" data-entity-type="location">South China Sea, where tensions have remained high.