Unraveling China's information warfare in Philippines

With the Philippine government’s recent transparency initiative in the West Philippine Sea, more and more Filipinos and countries all over the world are now aware of what’s happening in our side of the globe.
 
For many years, China has repetitively engaged in aggressive and coercive gray zone activities such as swarming, blasting of water cannon, and even forming blockades to invoke its expansive nine-dash line claim in the West Philippine Sea. Simultaneously, China has also been engaging in a massive information warfare to bolster its propaganda and push its narrative of ownership in the Philippine waters.
 
In 2023, the Marcos Jr. administration started publicizing China's gray zone operations in the west Philippine Sea through photos, videos and statements. 

Currently, experts say the Philippines is winning the information warfare China initiated in our country. However, there is still a lot that needs to be done.
 
In an information warfare, China aims to ensure that foreign governments, including its political and business elites, journalists and civil society will accept its manipulated narrative and abstain from criticizing its actions and behaviors in their own country.
 
In a research paper I wrote for the Stratbase ADR Institute, I looked into various disinformation campaigns in the Philippines and in other parts of the world. My research shows that the campaign primarily starts with strategic political operators, who specialize in social engineering or manipulating and misrepresenting incidents, issues and public discourse to sway public opinion or public policy in favor of a specific interest or agenda.
 
In the case of China’s information warfare in the Philippines, these operators include Chinese political leaders and groups, who then connect with Filipino political leaders, media operators, and key opinion leaders to propagate their messaging.
 
The message is then sent to authentic and most especially, inauthentic, or fake social media followers and network, which further amplify China’s desired narrative online, until it reaches the general public, who, the operators hope, would voluntarily proliferate the message they initiated.
 
My study