Video does not show US and Chinese warships in 'South China Sea standoff'

Published on January 30, 2024 at 07:02
5 min read
By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines

A fabricated video shared online in the Philippines in January 2024 falsely claims to show a "hostile standoff" between US and Chinese warships in contested South China Sea waters. A Philippine military spokesman told AFP that no such incident was recorded in the last month. The clip -- viewed hundreds of thousands of times -- circulated after Washington and Beijing held military drills in the disputed area.

The Tagalog-language video was shared on YouTube on January 17, 2024, less than two weeks after Beijing and Washington staged rival military drills in the disputed waters.

The drills followed tense standoffs between China and the Philippines in disputed reefs that saw vessels from the two countries collide and Chinese ships blast water cannon at Philippine boats.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea and has ignored an international tribunal ruling that its assertions have no legal basis.

While China typically uses its coast guard to enforce its claims in the area, military exercises are not uncommon.

The eight-minute video's title translates to English as, "China was shocked! US and China end up in hostile standoff on the West Philippine Sea," using Manila's term for the South China Sea waters to the immediate west of the Philippines.

Designed like a breaking news report, the video's thumbnail appears to show a US warship blocking its Chinese counterpart in the foreground. Another vessel bearing China's flag can also be seen in the background.

The video's narrator goes on to claim in Tagalog that China "suddenly turned its ship around rather than risking a direct confrontation with US ships."

The rest of the video links China to alleged corruption in the Philippines' jeepney modernisation programme and unsubstantiated reports about Chinese ships embroiled in a separate maritime confrontation with France.

The video has racked up over 150,000 views and has also been shared on Facebook and TikTok.

Screenshot of the false post, taken January 25, 2024.

In response to an inquiry from AFP about the false posts, the Philippine military told AFP no such incident has been recorded.

"There have been no formal reports confirming the news about a US navy ship blocking the (Chinese Coast Guard)," Ariel Coloma, spokesman of the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines said on January 29.

The video -- which misused unrelated images of naval ships -- was posted by a YouTube user who has been repeatedly debunked by AFP for sharing fabricated reports over the South China Sea dispute, such as here and here.

Composite photo

Reverse image searches on Google led to two separate photos which were combined to form the video's thumbnail.

The left portion of the thumbnail -- which claims to show US and China warships with country flags above them -- was lifted off from an old handout photo from the US Navy.

Part of the photo's caption says it "shows the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea steam in formation during a Strait of Hormuz transit on September 18, 2020."

No country flags are visible on either of the ships, contrary to the video's false claim.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the photo uploaded on the AFP Forum (right), with elements highlighted by AFP:

Screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the photo uploaded on the AFP Forum (right), with elements highlighted by AFP

The right portion of the thumbnail -- which purportedly shows a white warship with several flags hoisted above it -- was published by the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua on December 22, 2022 (archived link).

Based on the article, the image corresponds to Chinese vessels from a joint naval exercise with Russia in the East China Sea on December 21, 2022.

The original photo was edited to exclude the two other warships in the background.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and Xinhua's 2022 photo (right):

Screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and Xinhua's 2022 photo (right)

Unrelated clips

The YouTube video also misused at least two other unrelated clips of naval ships.

The first clip of a Chinese Coast Guard ship shadowing a Philippine vessel was published by Singapore-based broadcaster CNA (Channel News Asia) on October 6, 2023 (archived link).

Its caption reads in part: "In their latest maritime encounter, Chinese coast guards came alarmingly close to a Philippine vessel, resulting in a near-collision."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the CNA clip at the 2:18 mark (right):

Screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the CNA clip at the 2:18 mark (right)

The second clip, which shows a line of military ships sailing in a staggered formation, was published on YouTube on January 29, 2020 (archived link).

Uploaded by the US Navy, the video shows a carrier strike group on a deployment mission in the Pacific Ocean on January 25, 2020.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the video uploaded by the US Navy (right):

Screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the video uploaded by the US navy (right)

AFP has previously debunked other false claims about supposed maritime confrontations in the South China Sea here and here.

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