Gina A. Policarpio

The Chinese Embassy's latest statement about me is not a rebuttal. It is a self-portrait. First, the Embassy is now a purveyor of fake news. Its own spokesperson and the FFCCCII said the Chinese teachers left because their families worried about Ray Powell's articles. My name was nowhere. On the "PR stunt," my statement thanked the PLA Navy, contrasted it with how the China Coast Guard treats our fishermen, and asked why a warship was in our EEZ. This is the same Embassy that circulated a garbled translation of my post to claim I "threatened" the Ambassador. Second, the statement proves China does not care about international law. No UNCLOS, no 2016 Award, no legal basis. Instead: Iraq in 2003 and a Pompeo quote. A grievance against Washington does not explain a water cannon fired at a BFAR vessel in July or a survey ship off Batanes without the consent Article 246 requires. Every disclosure I make comes from PCG cameras and crews, not foreign intelligence. Third, this is a mission that threatens rather than engages. The Ambassador said China could "easily win" by force; the DFA summoned him, the President called it a threat. The Embassy then warned of reciprocal action against our officials and answered a legitimate question with "the ignorant are fearless." The Filipinos who actually pay a price are the fishermen water-cannoned at Bajo de Masinloc. My job is to show what our cameras record. If the footage is propaganda, your quarrel is with the footage. The Embassy can attack me all it wants; the cameras will keep rolling.

From the very beginning, I have been warning that we must not allow the Chinese Embassy to bring Beijing's wolf warrior diplomacy down to the embassy level. When China deploys wolf warrior diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs level, the international community, particularly like-minded states, can see it, call it out, and push back. Beijing expects that response, and the exchange stays in the open where it belongs. But once that same behavior is allowed to operate at the embassy level, it becomes something else entirely: a tool for cognitive warfare, information operations, and the shaping of domestic public opinion. This is exactly what we have witnessed in recent days, with Filipinos pitted against fellow Filipinos. Our institutions are now exposed to attack from within our own capital, and worse, the international community is unable to speak up, because the matter has been reframed as a domestic issue rather than foreign interference. The most dangerous part is not only the spread of disinformation. It is the division of our nation. Instead of recognizing China as the threat, some of our own countrymen have been turned into instruments to fight on its behalf.