Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Chinese flags wave with Philippine flags along Roxas Boulevard in Manila on November 19, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit in the country. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/file

Article (news)

Jervis Manahan

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17741613908271774161386641.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Chinese flags wave with Philippine flags along Roxas Boulevard in Manila on November 19, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping&#x27;s state visit in the country. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/file "/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Chinese flags wave with Philippine flags along Roxas Boulevard in Manila on November 19, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping&#x27;s state visit in the country. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/file </span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — The Chinese language space, including media and schools, are at the heart of Chinese influence operations in the Philippines, global security expert Ray Powell said.</p><p>This is the heart of the investigation of Powell&#x27;s Sealight Foundation, a US maritime transparency initiative group tracking developments in the South China Sea.</p><p>&quot;We are continuing our investigations. We decided to begin in the Chinese language space because that seemed to be the closest to the heart of the operation,&quot; Powell, a former US military officer, said in a Saturday forum.</p><p>&quot;What we&#x27;re focused in on is really identifying where Chinese government has extraordinary control and its resourcing and directing what is being said,&quot; he said.</p><div><a href="https://od2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com/#/workspace?item=urn:newsml:od2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com:2026-03-22T06:06:43.174700:f7f8a228-22fb-4304-ac7b-f24cd8940abb&amp;action=edit">China running massive influence operations in PH, security expert says</a></div><p>Powell said that based on their investigations, the Chinese embassy has asked Chinese language media in the Philippines to spread propaganda.</p><p>&quot;For decades, the Chinese language press, websites have told the truth about themselves, it&#x27;s just that nobody is paying attention since many people here don&#x27;t speak Chinese,&quot; he said.</p><p>Tagalog and Bisaya are the languages most commonly spoken in the Philippines, according to Philippine Statistics Authority data. Filipino and English are the official languages.</p><p>Powell said Beijing&#x27;s messaging has been embedded in many forms such as Chinese state media and their embassy&#x27;s press releases, which is often echoed in Filipino-Chinese language media.</p><p>Chinese Commercial News, which predates the founding of the People&#x27;s Republic of China, is among the oldest Chinese-language newspapers in the Philippines.</p><p>A check of its website shows it carries reports on alleged Chinese espionage in the Philippines and on an incident where a Chinese ship illuminated navy ship BRP Miguel Malvar with its fire-control radar.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/3/20/navy-accuses-china-of-directing-fire-control-radar-at-its-vessel-1744">&#x27;Alarming&#x27;: Navy accuses China of directing fire-control radar at its vessel<br/></a></div><p>United News, which claims on its website that it is the &quot;oldest and largest Filipino-Chinese newspaper in the Philippines&quot;, carries a report on China&#x27;s influence operations, which quotes Powell.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;A RANGE OF ISSUES&#x27;</strong></div><p>&quot;There&#x27;s a range of issues when it comes to foreign influence it goes all the way from open propaganda to foreign interference which are the kinds of things we are talking about, that in an open society, it&#x27;s the weak spot for any democracy,&quot; Powell added.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/27/pcij-stresses-independence-after-embassy-hits-piece-on-pro-china-propaganda-1444">PCIJ stresses independence after embassy hits piece on &#x27;pro-China propaganda&#x27;<br/></a></div><p>Powell said the information warfare of China on ground has been equally aggressive to match their aggression in our waters.</p><p>&quot;Beijing&#x27;s goal is not to merely to control the reefs and shoals of the West Philippine Sea, it is to convince the people of the Philippines to stop resisting, to accept Chinese control as a permanent fact of life,&quot; Powell said.</p><p>&quot;We have just started our investigations, what we hope is for more people to dig into this,&quot; he added.</p>

<p>The Chinese language space, including media and schools, are at the heart of Chinese influence operations in the Philippines, global security expert Ray Powell said.</p>

The Chinese language space, including media and schools, are at the heart of Chinese influence operations in the Philippines, global security expert Ray Powell said.

Chinese-language media and education used for Chinese influence ops, says global security expert

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Chinese-language media and education used for Chinese influence ops, says global security expert

Jervis Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Published Mar 22, 2026 02:39 PM PHT

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Updated Mar 22, 2026 02:53 PM PHT

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Ray Powell

Sealight Foundation

China

Influence operations

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