US geopolitical manipulation condemned

Campaign aiming to discredit Chinese vaccines treats lives as 'mere pawns'

The secret US military propaganda operation that aimed to discredit China's vaccines in the Philippines normalized the "disposability of Global South lives" at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and has exposed how the US treats developing countries as "mere pawns" in a geopolitical power play, analysts say.

The US military orchestrated a social media campaign to sow distrust against vaccines and other medical items, including face masks and test kits, from China, according to a June report by Reuters. The clandestine campaign, which was staged at the height of the pandemic, mainly targeted the Philippines, the Middle East and Central Asia.

At least 300 accounts on X, formerly Twitter, were created in 2020 and promoted the #Chinaangvirus hashtag, which means "China is the virus" in the Filipino language. Reuters said that after it asked X about the accounts, the platform removed the profiles, determining they were part of a coordinated bot campaign based on activity patterns and internal data.