The Pentagon allegedly targeted a vaccine-skeptical Filipino population with disinformation in an effort to discredit the Chinese Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine as retaliation for China blaming the U.S. for the Covid-19 pandemic, an investigation by Reuters found.
The Pentagon’s alleged clandestine operation aimed to “sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China,” the Reuters investigation claimed.
The military allegedly operated a network of at least 300 phony Twitter accounts which used phrases like “China Ang Virus” which, when translated from Tagalog, means “China is the virus,” according to Reuters.
The majority of these accounts were created in the summer of 2020, Reuters claimed. The accounts combined allegedly had “tens of thousands of followers,” according to the outlet. Reuters brought the accounts to the attention of Twitter during their investigation at which point Twitter shut them down, according to the outlet.
The alleged propaganda campaign was a response to Chinese efforts to spread misinformation about Covid’s origins, Reuters claimed.
“We weren’t looking at this from a public health perspective,” a senior military officer told Reuters. “We were looking at how we could drag China through the mud.”
The U.S. military launched a clandestine program amid the COVID crisis to discredit China’s Sinovac inoculation – payback for Beijing’s efforts to blame Washington for the pandemic.
One target: the Filipino public. https://t.co/RY1iOiQVgN
— James Pearson (@pearswick) June 14, 2024
China had a “disinformation campaign to falsely blame the United States for the spread of COVID-19,” a Pentagon spokeswoman told Reuters.
Chinese officials also set up a disinformation campaign of their own alleging the Covid-19 virus originated at a U.S. “Biological Weapons Research Base” at Fort Detrick, Maryland, according to a Department of Justice complaint.
The alleged propaganda campaign began under President Trump but continued for months under the Biden presidency, according to Reuters. (RELATED: ‘Science Doesn’t Belong To Any One Person’: Lawmakers Grill Fauci On Pandemic Origins)
During Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, he often criticized Trump for racism and xenophobia for referring to the Covid virus as the “China virus.” Despite his criticism, Biden appeared to allow the military to carry out a campaign which, among other things, sowed doubt amongst Asia’s Muslim population by claiming the Chinese vaccine contained pork, until the middle of 2021, according to the Reuters investigation.
The Pentagon’s alleged campaign apparently made an impact on the Philippines’ population, as they had one of the worst inoculation rates in Southeast Asia, according to Reuters. The country’s vaccine skepticism drew the ire of then-President Rodrigo Duterte.
“You choose, vaccine or I will have you jailed,” he told the population in June 2021 in a televised address. “There is a crisis in this country … I’m just exasperated by Filipinos not heeding the government.”
State Department officials reportedly warned the Pentagon not to carry out the alleged campaign, claiming it would weaken an already tenuous diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and southeast Asia
“Is this the moment you want to do a psy-op in the Philippines?” one diplomat claimed to the outlet they asked the Pentagon. “Is it worth the risk?”
