Phl Navy says China waging information war amid espionage arrests

Philippine Navy Inspector General Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad claimed on Saturday that the prominent war faced by Filipinos against China was that of information.

Trinidad’s remarks come after a reported espionage case, wherein a total of four individuals were nabbed for coercion with Chinese informants concerning government information as well as military tactics, was uncovered this Thursday.

The Navy Admiral identified the suspects as Lawrence, Allison, Danny, and Charles, who he reported had a network established with multiple foreign personnel.

He also sought to justify that the investigations launched by various government agencies were not merely a smear campaign against China and were, in fact, a threat to national security.

"Yung sinasabi kanina na smear campaign, or haka haka lang, these are real people, may totoong confession, we have the full kaboodle of, shall I say, all the reports, all the trackings,” explained Trinidad.

"There is a pattern when it comes to attempts to infiltrate the cognitive domain of the Filipinos, attempts to be able to infiltrate in a very subtle way to extract information from us,” he added.

The narrative that these operations were malicious in nature came from a statement delivered by the Chinese Embassy on Friday, which claimed that the findings were fabricated.

“We firmly oppose and strongly deplore irresponsible remarks made by certain Philippine agencies peddling so-called ‘Chinese spy’ narratives. China follows the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs,” said embassy spokesperson Ji Lingpeng.

Trinidad stood firm on his stance that the issue was not fictional, stating that this type of strategy was a new approach which sought to divide the country by providing the public with disinformation.

"We are bringing this out in the open, sapagkat, number one the Filipino people need to be aware na part of the stagecraft of the Chinese Communist Party is to co-op our mindset,” he noted.