At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. military launched a secret campaign to counter what it perceived as China’s growing influence in the Philippines, a nation hit especially hard by the deadly virus.

The clandestine operation has not been previously reported. It aimed to sow doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China, a Reuters investigation found. Through phony internet accounts meant to impersonate Filipinos, the military’s propaganda efforts morphed into an anti-vax campaign. Social media posts decried the quality of face masks, test kits and the first vaccine that would become available in the Philippines – China’s Sinovac inoculation.

Reuters identified at least 300 accounts on X, formerly Twitter, that matched descriptions shared by former U.S. military officials familiar with the Philippines operation. Almost all were created in the summer of 2020 and centered on the slogan #Chinaangvirus – Tagalog for China is the virus.

    • postmateDumbass@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Gee, so the CIA wanted a pandemic and it happened in the city with the lab where the research was happening. I wonder if they facilitated the leak?

    • secretlyaddictedtolinux@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      This is why the US lacks credibility.

      When I hear about Tienanmen Square and all the protestors killed, I want to believe the US… and not believe China… and yet, I can’t be sure that anything coming from the US isn’t just made up garbage. It’s probably not… but I can’t really know!

      It’s a horrible policy decision too allow things like this and creates major distrust of all US government narratives, when almost all of them could be true.

      • salamandermander@lemmings.world
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        5 months ago

        Yeah all the photos and film of Tiananmen Square are surely just propaganda right? That event was just made up by the US and definitely wasn’t witnessed by and broadcasted by several different countries’ news services.

        The US has done some bad shit, and still does. But do not let that blind you to the crimes of other countries. There’s a reason why the Chinese government censors mentions of June 1989 and the mass deaths due to famine during the great leap forward.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Yeah all the photos and film of Tiananmen Square are surely just propaganda right?

          The crazy thing about Tianamen was that the Tank Driver stopped and tried to move around the protester.

          It was a remarkable moment of humanity between two people who clearly did not want to be in conflict with one another.

          I can’t imagine a modem day officer treating any protesters the same way.

          There’s a reason why the Chinese government censors mentions of June 1989 and the mass deaths due to famine during the great leap forward.

          That’s completely untrue.

          Here is an exhaustive response from a Chinese national. Not only is it not illegal, its documented in Baidu, China’s most popular social media site.

          The claim that Chinese schools and leaders simply don’t talk about the First Five Year Plan is entirely fictitious. On par with claiming Americans don’t teach their kids about the Founding Fathers owning slaves.

          It’s pure Western propaganda.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I can’t be sure that anything coming from the US isn’t just made up garbage

        I mean, ACAB is a safe bet in any country.

        The narrative around Tianamen is that it is the consequence of a totalitarian Communist economic policy, and that our liberal free markets mean it can’t ever happen here.

        The reality is that it was blowback from Chinese economic liberalization. This response is exactly the same as what you’ll find aimed at unionization drives around a sweatshop in the Philippines or a student protest on the Columbia college campus. Liberalism will not keep you safe from a row of tanks driving through your neighborhood or a police officer black bagging you for protesting on camera.

        Tianamen was a warning to the world of what was to come. But US media transformed it into a reason to be afraid of Chinese people.