US, PH strengthen work vs. ‘foreign information manipulation’

COMBATTING FALSE NARRATIVES. Senior US and Philippine officials meet for the 11th Bilateral Strategic Dialogue in Washington D.C. on Wednesday (April 24, 2024). The Philippines and the United States have agreed to strengthen engagement against false foreign narratives, especially on issues surrounding the West Philippine Sea. (Photo: Ambassador MaryKay L. Carlson @USAmbPH/X)

WASHINGTON D.C. – The Philippines and the United States have agreed to strengthen engagement against false foreign narratives, encompassing “all kinds of disinformation”.

The commitment was made during the 11th US-Philippine Bilateral Strategic Dialogue (BSD) among senior Filipino and American government officials from April 22 to 23 in Washington D.C.

Under the category of expanding the breadth of Philippines-US partnership, the two sides “committed in 2024” to deepen collaboration on “countering foreign information manipulation”.

In an interview on Wednesday night (Washington D.C. time), Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said this partnership will particularly help combat the narrative that Manila is the one provoking tensions whenever it asserts its rights in the South China Sea.

“Obviously, the false narratives, every time something happens in the West Philippine Sea, China would say we’re putting up an aggressive behavior,” he said.

The State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which tackles propaganda and disinformation, has defined foreign information manipulation as efforts of a foreign state to promote “biased information”.

In a 2023 report, it linked the term to China, saying the country do so by suppressing “critical information that contradicts its desired narratives” on issues such as the South China Sea.

Romualdez said the collaboration would also counter claims that the US is instigating a “proxy war” between Manila and Beijing.

“Collaboration doesn’t necessarily mean it needs any funding — it’s just really working together to try to counter all of those false narratives,” he said.

This future cooperation is expected to involve capacity building, information sharing, and exchange of best practices, among others.

The BSD, first held in 2011, serves as the main annual platform for the US and the Philippines to discuss a full range of political, security, and economic cooperation, including views on current challenges and strategic priorities.

During the meeting, both sides also recalled several milestones over the past year such as the meetings between President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and US President Joe Biden; the joint 2+2 State and Defense Ministerial Dialogue; a US Presidential Trade and Investment Mission to the Philippines; and the historic trilateral leaders’ summit with Japan, among others.