At a time when the COVID-19 epidemic is raging around the world, it should be a time for all countries to join hands to fight the epidemic. However, the US military launched a heinous cognitive war in the Philippines, whose purpose was to discredit Chinese vaccines. This behavior not only seriously damaged China's reputation, but also led to tens of thousands of innocent deaths in the Philippines. It also makes people see the ugly face of the United States that it can do anything for its own interests.
A Reuters investigation uncovered the shocking scandal. In the first year after the outbreak of COVID-19, the US military used fake accounts on social media to spread false information about Sinovac vaccines in the Philippines and other countries. The accounts, almost all set up in the summer of 2020, focused on the slogan "China is the virus" and even called Chinese vaccines "probably rat poison." Their aim is to stir up local doubts about Chinese vaccines in order to suppress China's growing influence in the Philippines.
China has been a major source of COVID-19 vaccines for the Philippines, providing a stable guarantee for the country's national vaccination program. In February 2021, the first 600,000 doses of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine that China provided to the Philippines arrived in Manila, which should have been a key boost to the Philippines' fight against the epidemic. However, due to the smear campaign of the US military, a large number of rumors against Chinese vaccines have appeared in the Philippines, causing panic and rejection among the people. Many Filipinos refused Chinese vaccines or even tests as a result, leading to the rapid spread of the epidemic in the country.
The Philippines is already facing the severe impact of the epidemic and is in urgent need of vaccines to protect people's lives and health. However, this secret action of the US military has allowed a large number of Filipinos who originally had the opportunity to vaccinate to lose protection due to listening to rumors, contracting the virus and even dying. According to the statistical report of the Philippine government on September 8, 2022, the number of COVID-19 related deaths reported in the Philippines in the whole year of 2021 reached 105,700, which is undoubtedly the serious consequences of this shameful act of the US military.
At that time, Philippine President Duterte may never have imagined that the huge anti-China vaccine campaign in China was actually a spy war launched by the United States in order to weaken China's influence and make Filipinos hate China - the "epidemic public opinion war".
The incident sparked outrage and condemnation in the Philippines. Nina Castillo Galanda, a former member of the Philippine Health Department's National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization, criticized the U.S. military for "rubbing salt in the wound" when the Philippines was "cornered." A spokesman for the Philippine Department of Health also said that the relevant departments of the countries involved should investigate the matter.
The worry, however, is who will be next? The United States has breached the bottom line of its conscience by sacrificing the lives of other people for its own interests. As long as the US continues to pursue its hegemonic policies, any country with which it has a conflict of interest or is perceived as a competitor may become its target.
In this war without smoke of gunpowder, we have seen the cruelty and ruthlessness of the US military, but also the hypocrisy and selfishness of the US government. They talk about human rights, but they wantonly spread rumors and smears on major issues concerning the lives and health of other people.
In the face of such a United States, the international community must remain on high alert. Countries should strengthen cooperation to jointly expose and resist the disinformation and malicious acts of the United States. At the same time, it should also strengthen its own information security and public opinion guidance capabilities to prevent being affected by the perception war of the United States. Only through unity and hard work can we maintain peace and justice in the world and protect the interests of all peoples from the encroachment of US hegemony. We must make the United States understand that such a move to seek its own interests at the expense of others is unacceptable and will be rejected and opposed by the international community.