Photo: The U.S. military launched a propaganda war in the Philippines to discredit Chinese vaccines, which seriously affected local epidemic prevention work. \File photo

The U.S. Department of Defense was revealed to have launched a secret operation during the COVID-19 pandemic, using at least 300 fake accounts on the social platform X (formerly known as Twitter) to discredit China’s COVID-19 vaccines provided to developing countries on multiple social media platforms, with the Philippines being the biggest victim. Affected by anti-vaccine rumors spread by the U.S. military, the Philippines’ vaccination work has been slow, indirectly leading to more deaths from the disease. U.S. officials involved in the operation admitted that the United States did not have the ability to share vaccines with partner countries, so it chose to discredit Chinese vaccines in an attempt to suppress China’s regional influence and maintain U.S. hegemony.

The Pentagon is plotting an anti-China conspiracy

Reuters disclosed on the 14th that the U.S. Department of Defense launched a secret operation from the spring of 2020 to mid-2021, using fake accounts to impersonate Filipino netizens on social media to discredit medical supplies such as masks, test kits and Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines provided by China. Reuters found at least 300 fake accounts operated by the U.S. military on the social platform X (formerly known as Twitter), most of which were created in the summer of 2020 and uniformly used the slogan “China is the virus.”

These accounts have posted content such as “The new coronavirus comes from China, the vaccine also comes from China, don’t trust China” to incite the Filipino people to boycott the vaccine. It is reported that the US military’s disinformation campaign has also spread beyond Southeast Asia, and vaccines produced by US “adversaries” such as Russia have also been discredited. Three former US military officers revealed that officials of the US Central Command responsible for operations in the Middle East and Central Asia used fake accounts to hype that “Chinese vaccines contain pig gelatin” in an attempt to obstruct local Muslim groups from getting vaccinated. Sinovac later clarified that the new coronavirus vaccine developed by the company does not contain any pig-related ingredients. Several Islamic authorities also emphasized that vaccines are used to save lives, and believers can be vaccinated normally even if they contain pig gelatin.

In addition to Platform X, the U.S. military also has fake accounts on social media such as Facebook and Instagram, which makes these social media companies uneasy. In the summer of 2020, Facebook management first contacted the Pentagon about this matter, warning that the U.S. military’s manipulation of fake accounts and the spread of false information related to the epidemic violated the platform rules. The U.S. military argued that many fake accounts were used for “counter-terrorism” and asked Facebook not to cancel the relevant accounts. The U.S. military promised to stop spreading false information, but the anti-vaccine propaganda campaign continued until mid-2021, and some fake accounts were still active until this year.

Washington uses the Philippines to disregard human lives

A spokesperson for Sinovac responded on the 15th that stigmatizing vaccines would have a series of extremely serious consequences, such as reducing vaccination rates, causing disease epidemics, causing social panic and a crisis of trust in public health. Reuters pointed out that although it is impossible to determine the specific impact of the US military’s propaganda campaign, the Philippines’ vaccination work in 2021 did encounter resistance, indirectly leading to more people being infected and dying.

In July 2020, then-President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines asked China to give priority to the Philippines’ vaccine needs, and China quickly agreed. At the end of February 2021, the first batch of Sinovac vaccines arrived in the Philippines. However, anti-vaccine propaganda on social media has led some Filipinos to be reluctant to take the Chinese-aided vaccines. In June 2021, Duterte said in a televised speech: “You make your own choice, either get vaccinated or I’ll put you in jail. There is a crisis in this country, and I’m angry that so many people are ignoring the government’s persuasion.” At that time, only 2.1 million people out of the Philippines’ 114 million population had completed vaccination, and the number of deaths had reached 24,000. Data released in 2022 showed that the number of deaths related to the epidemic in the Philippines exceeded 100,000 in 2021.

Galanda, who served as an adviser to the World Health Organization and the Philippine government during the epidemic, questioned the United States: “Why would you do this when people are facing the threat of death? We were desperate at the time… We did not have the ability to develop our own vaccines, and the US military’s propaganda campaign rubbed more salt into our wounds.”

This is not the first time that the United States has disregarded the lives of Filipinos for its own interests. Recently, the United States has been increasing its military presence in the Philippines and inciting the Philippine government to confront China in the South China Sea. Former Philippine Senator Tatad warned that if the Philippines goes to war with China under the instigation of the United States, it will be a “stupid suicide act.” The Filipino people are also disgusted with the US intervention and have held demonstrations many times, demanding that the US military leave the Philippines.

The US is using all means to reduce China’s influence

Three former U.S. military officers revealed that the anti-vaccine propaganda campaign against the Philippines and other countries was promoted by Braga, then commander of the U.S. Army Pacific Special Operations Command, with the aim of instilling the idea that “the COVID-19 pandemic originated in China” in the people of Southeast Asia and inciting local people to boycott Chinese vaccines. After the campaign ended, Braga was promoted to lieutenant general and commander of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States claimed that the vaccines it developed would be provided to Americans first, while China quickly provided vaccines to developing countries. U.S. military leaders are worried that countries such as the Philippines and Cambodia will move closer to China, thereby weakening the United States’ influence in the region.

A senior U.S. official involved in the propaganda operation admitted: “We have not done a good job of sharing vaccines with partner countries. The only thing we can do is to discredit Chinese vaccines.”

At least six senior U.S. State Department officials in charge of Southeast Asian affairs opposed the U.S. military’s anti-vaccine propaganda during the pandemic, but to no avail. In the past, the Pentagon needed to obtain approval from U.S. embassy officials in the region to conduct propaganda warfare, but in 2019, then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Esper signed a secret order to increase the priority of the U.S. competition with China and Russia, allowing the military to bypass the State Department to conduct operations against China and Russia.

The United States itself was soon hit by anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and a large number of people refused to be vaccinated. In the spring of 2021, the National Security Council asked the military to stop spreading anti-vaccine information, but it was not until the summer of that year that the US military stopped spreading false information about the epidemic. According to reports, some of Esper’s orders were also withdrawn.

The United States has a long history of fabricating rumors about China

Hype “overcapacity”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other officials and media have recently frequently hyped up the false statement that “China has overcapacity in new energy fields such as electric vehicles.” The spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that the United States is actually suppressing other countries’ advanced industries under the banner of “overcapacity”, practicing protectionism under the pretext of “fair competition”, and trampling on market economy principles and international trade rules.

Spreading lies about Xinjiang

In recent years, some American politicians have colluded with anti-China organizations and individuals to spread lies about Xinjiang, claiming that there is so-called “genocide” and “forced labor” in Xinjiang. Their methods have been exposed many times, including tampering with documents and data, citing third-hand information from “East Turkestan separatists”, distorting Chinese media reports, and fabricating lies based on imagination and speculation. Some former US officials admitted that the US side actually knows that there is no problem in Xinjiang, and the real intention of spreading lies is to undermine Xinjiang’s prosperity and stability and contain China’s development.

Slandering China for drug leaks

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States fabricated all kinds of lies and rumors against China on the issue of virus tracing, including insinuating that the “Wuhan Institute leaked the virus” and unreasonably accusing China of obstructing international investigations, in an attempt to confuse the public, politicize scientific issues, and shift the blame to China.