So, what else is new with the Philippines complaining over the weekend that China once again used several ships to harass a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) vessel that was conducting a humanitarian mission near Escoda Shoal in the West Philippine Sea?

This as the BRP Datu Sanday had to abort its plan to deliver supplies to Filipino fishermen at the shoal after several China Navy, Coast Guard and maritime vessels surrounded and blocked it.

The Chinese rammed the BFAR vessel, resulting in structural damage, but that’s not the end of the story. What makes this particular Chinese narrative interesting is their claim that they rescued some Filipino crew members after the encounter.

Should we send the Chinese, bless their souls, a thank-you note for being good samaritans in plucking our countrymen from the water? Is that it? But wait a New York minute.

According to the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, the Chinese were hallucinating about their purported rescue of the Filipinos as nothing of the sort happened. “Claims suggesting that our personnel fell overboard and were subsequently rescued by the China Coast Guard are completely unfounded,” it said.

“This fake news and misinformation serves as a clear illustration of China’s willingness to distort the truth and engage in disinformation to bolster its public image,” added the task force.

Time and again, the Philippines has expressed concerns over the use of misinformation by China, especially in relation to its overlapping claims in the South China Sea (SCS). Shall we count the ways?

Following a complaint raised by the Philippines in 2013, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 ruled that China’s nine-dash line (later expanded to 10 dashes) and other historical documents and maps did not support its expansionist claim to nearly the entire SCS, which overlaps the WPS.

Losing that legal battle, Beijing has refused to recognize the arbitral ruling and instead has resorted to spreading misinformation about the dispute through the use of social media and online platforms and, according to cyber experts, its vast troll farm.

China has also renamed disputed features in the SCS to back and legitimize its territorial claim. Outside of that dispute, Beijing has also been accused of using “debt-trap diplomacy” to leverage money it has lent to countries like the Philippines toward achieving geopolitical supremacy.

It is critical to recognize that China’s harassment of Philippine ships is a component of a larger pattern of deceit and coercion, not an isolated episode, given its recurrent operations in the West Philippine Sea. This tendency can be seen in many different global contexts and goes beyond the contested waterways.

For example, China has used disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks, and historical factual distortions to challenge Taiwanese independence and try to impose control over the island nation. It has also been accused of disseminating false information about the origins of the Covid-19 virus and the efficacy of vaccines developed by the West against it.

State-controlled narratives have also consistently downplayed and denied China’s human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, thereby hiding the realities of widespread imprisonment and forced labor.

These instances show how disinformation is consistently being used by China to further its geopolitical goals, whether these goals be in the South China Sea or elsewhere in the world.