Philippines seeking US clarification on anti-vax propaganda operation
MANILA: The Philippines is still seeking clarification from the Pentagon about a secret US propaganda operation that aimed to cast doubt among Filipinos about Chinese vaccines at the height of the COVID pandemic, a foreign ministry official said on tuesday. A Reuters investigation on June 14 detailed how the Pentagon ran a clandestine influence campaign in 2020 and 2021 to denigrate the Sinovac vaccine and other pandemic aid from China across the developing world. The effort was intended to counter what Washington then saw as China's growing geopolitical sway around the globe, including in Southeast Asia. It began under former President Donald Trump and ended months after President Joseph Biden took office. "We have not received an official and formal response yet on any confirmation, denial, or anything. We are waiting on that. We continue to monitor and ask for information," foreign affairs assistant Secretary Jose Victor Chan-Gonzaga told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is investigating the US information campaign.
