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Philippines’ Media Campaign Against China July 2025

In July 2025, Manila’s media campaign against China reached a new level of sophistication, transforming X into a front line of strategic communication. Facing repeated maritime confrontations—water cannoning, ramming, and AIS suppression, Philippine officials harnessed X to expose Chinese coercion in real time. Leveraging CSIS insights on information strategy, Manila amplified imagery, videos, and real-time updates to both domestic and international audiences. This article examines how the Philippines crafted its X strategy, situates it within historical patterns, details recent developments, and analyzes its broader implications for regional narratives and geopolitical balance.

Since the 2016 Hague arbitral ruling invalidating China’s nine-dash line, the Philippines has oscillated between confrontation and conciliation, depending on leadership. Under President Duterte, clashes were downplayed to favor economic ties. A shift occurred in 2022, when President Marcos Jr. embraced a more assertive posture. The launch of the “Transparency Initiative” in 2023 signaled Manila’s pivot toward greater public disclosure, opening patrols to journalists and releasing footage of Chinese maritime harassment. This approach reflected CSIS and analyst warnings that exposure matters more than legal theory alone, as disputes increasingly play out in the media age.

In early 2025, the Philippine government formalized its media response using X as a rapid amplification platform. In April, coast guard posts on X broadcast video of Chinese cutters using water cannons near Second Thomas Shoal. These posts swiftly went global, aided by tagging international media and think tanks like CSIS. CSIS South China Sea conference materials also recommended platforms like X to build transparency and credibility. Manila’s X content ranged from annotated drone footage to infographics explaining legal violations—perfectly tailored for social audiences and waterways discourse. Enhanced by shareable imagery, these posts often included timing, vessel identification, and quotes from officials for context.

By July, X became central to Manila’s media offense. Philippine diplomats began tweeting daily summaries of maritime incidents, with embedded clips and geolocation data. Notably, a viral thread documented a Chinese maritime militia vessel dragging anchor over coral near Pag‑asa Reef in early July, prompting backlash. International figures—such as Lithuania’s defense minister—publicly praised Manila’s initiative, calling out China’s behavior as needless aggression. CSIS analysts attributed the campaign’s effectiveness to its consistent transparency, reinforcing a narrative of principled victimhood and law-based advocacy.

The implications of Manila’s strategy are wide-ranging. First, it demonstrates how smaller maritime claimants can shape narratives and pressure bigger powers without traditional leverage. By saturating social media with documentation, the Philippines helped alter global perceptions and reduced information asymmetry. Second, this media strategy strengthened its ties with allies. Social media evidence became part of briefing materials used in ASEAN and congressional discussions in Washington, accelerating support from the US, EU, and Japan. Third, it blurs the line between information diplomacy and deterrence: Chinese officials formally protested Manila’s documentation, but the backlash also stymied Beijing’s ability to dismiss incidents as routine. By branding actions “aggressive” in real time, Manila made gray-zone tactics more costly.

Yet the approach carries risks. Information campaigns can provoke pushback, suffer from selective editing, or devolve into propaganda. CSIS guidance warns that maintaining factual rigor, consistent metadata, and credible attribution is essential to retain legitimacy. Manila’s campaign has adhered to these best practices so far, but China is responding with its own counter-narrative—alleging misinformation and cognitive warfare. This dynamic suggests an emerging “information arms race” in the South China Sea, where perceptual control becomes as contested as territory.

Looking beyond July, Manila’s media strategy may expand. Formalizing information-sharing with ASEAN, including posting “incident dashboards” online, could institutionalize transparency. Coordinating content with allies—such as synchronized press releases or shared infographics—may reinforce regional consensus. Long-term, this approach could support a Code of Conduct negotiation by building public and international pressure for stronger standards. Conversely, overreliance on X could provoke Chinese cyber retaliation or mirror propaganda countermeasures.

In global terms, Manila’s campaign exemplifies how states under military pressure adapt by turning to media networks. It underscores that public opinion and digital platforms now play roles once reserved for diplomacy and strategy. Countries like Vietnam and Malaysia are already observing these developments closely; armed with comparable social media tools, they may replicate Manila’s model. For the US and allies, supporting such transparency initiatives aligns with broader Indo-Pacific messaging—promoting rules-based order through evidence-based communication.

As geoeconomic tensions intensify and East Asian strategic competition widens, informational tools become indispensable. Manila’s July 2025 X campaign did not physically alter the shape of reefs, but it shifted perceptions, constrained Chinese narratives, and deepened diplomatic engagement. This media strategy will shape the South China Sea dispute long after the patrols recede, signaling that in the digital age, sovereignty is defended not only with ships, but with screens.

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