Health
workers encode information and prepare vaccines against the coronavirus
at a mobile vaccination site in Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines, May
21, 2021. REUTERS/Lisa Marie David/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Philippines seeking U.S. clarification on anti-vax propaganda operation
MANILA,
June 25 (Reuters) - The Philippines is still seeking clarification from
the Pentagon about a secret U.S. propaganda operation that aimed to
cast doubt among Filipinos about Chinese vaccines at the height of the
COVID pandemic, a foreign ministry official said on Tuesday.
A Reuters investigation
on June 14 detailed how the Pentagon ran a clandestine influence
campaign in 2020 and 2021 to denigrate the Sinovac vaccine and other
pandemic aid from China across the developing world.
The
effort was intended to counter what Washington then saw as China's
growing geopolitical sway around the globe, including in Southeast Asia.
It began under former President Donald Trump and ended months after
President Joseph Biden took office.
"We
have not received an official and formal response yet on any
confirmation, denial or anything. We are waiting on that. We continue to
monitor and ask for information," Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary
Jose Victor Chan-Gonzaga told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
which is investigating the U.S. information campaign.
As
soon as the Reuters article came out, Chan-Gonzaga said the foreign
ministry had contacted the U.S. embassy in Manila through "our regular
consultations mechanism" but had been referred to the U.S. Defense
Department.
Contacted for further comment on Tuesday, the U.S. embassy also referred Reuters to the U.S. Defense Department.
A
senior Defense Department official cited by Reuters in the June 14
report acknowledged that the U.S. military had engaged in secret
propaganda to disparage China’s vaccine in the developing world, but
declined to provide details.
Senator
Imee Marcos, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, described the
U.S. military campaign as "evil, wicked, dangerous, unethical."
Marcos,
who is the sister of Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, said
the number of Filipinos who had fallen ill and died from COVID was
"shocking".
Nearly
67,000 Filipinos have died of COVID to date, while the number of
infections has reached more than 4.1 million, World Health Organization
data showed, making the Philippines among the hardest hit by the
pandemic in Southeast Asia.
Health
Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire told the Senate committee hearing on
Tuesday that health officials had been alarmed by the spread of
disinformation about vaccines but had thought it was "random" and not
organised.
Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales Editing by Gareth Jones