Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Friday condemned an AI-generated video by Chinese state-run outlet China Daily that portrayed Filipinos as monkeys, calling it "dehumanizing," "racist" and "contemptible propaganda."

Teodoro said the video reflects how "the Chinese communist apparatus thinks of the Filipino people."

"The post of China Daily depicting the Filipinos as monkeys is a revealing insight into what the Chinese communist apparatus thinks of the Filipino people," Teodoro said.

"This mockery of the lawful 2016 Arbitral Award and the video's glorification of violence against the Filipino people and soldiers expose the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of China's propaganda machine," he added.

According to Teodoro, the video demonstrates Beijing's inability to defend its claims in the South China Sea through international law or factual evidence.

"Such contemptible propaganda is a disgrace to any state that claims to exercise responsible regional leadership. It reveals the weakness of a government that resorts to racism, threats and manufactured hatred because it has utterly failed to defend its ridiculous claims through reason, evidence or law," he said.

The Defense chief also defended the government's policy of suspending ministerial and Armed Forces of the Philippines defense engagements with the Chinese Communist Party and its agencies.

"We are justified in our policy of no ministerial or AFP defense engagements or contacts with the CCP or any of its agencies. The recent spate of schizophrenic behavior of the Chinese Communist Party is too clear to disregard or ignore. This latest act of dehumanization further reveals them as neither a secure and confident actor nor a trustworthy neighbor," Teodoro said.

He ended his statement with the warning: "Pilipinas, huwag magpalinlang! Ang nalilinlang ay nasisiil."

Last week, China Daily released an AI-generated video showing a monkey wearing a shirt resembling the Philippine flag being pushed by figures bearing the flags of the United States and Japan onto a makeshift karaoke stage aboard a boat.

After being reprimanded for singing the wrong song, the monkey pulls out a paper labeled "South China Sea arbitration award" before being thrown into the sea and blasted with a water cannon.

The video comes amid continuing tensions between the Philippines and China over competing claims in the South China Sea, particularly around the Spratly Islands and Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal), where repeated confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels have occurred in recent years.