Philippines influence ops not all malign, analyst argues — SkimNews
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- Rommel C. Banlaoi, director of the Philippines-China Studies Center at Diliman College, writes that foreign influence operations in the Philippines are not inherently malign and that scholars, policymakers, and practitioners lack a universally accepted definition of the term.
- China's influence tools in the Philippines include media partnerships with Manila-based executives, thousands of mainland Chinese teachers staffing Chinese-language schools, United Front Work Department diaspora outreach, investments in zones like Cagayan, and influencer-and-bot information warfare.
- The United States, Japan, Australia, and South Korea also conduct influence operations in the Philippines — the US through military cooperation, development aid, and media partnerships; Japan through infrastructure and maritime security; Australia via defense and education; South Korea through cultural diplomacy and defense ties.
- China remains the Philippines' largest trading partner, and rejecting all Chinese initiatives — including scholarships, language programs, tourism, festivals, and art exhibitions — would be self-defeating, per Banlaoi.
- Genuine risks persist: espionage networks targeting Philippine defense institutions, cyber intrusions into government systems, and covert funding of local actors, which Banlaoi says can erode trust in democratic institutions and compromise national security.
- Philippine society actively resists manipulation through pluralistic media, investigative journalism, NGOs, universities, and resource-constrained government agencies that monitor espionage and cyber threats, underscoring that foreign influence succeeds only when societies allow it to.
Why it matters: The piece reframes a Philippine debate dominated by China-focused alarmism into a call for consistent, sovereignty-based scrutiny of all foreign actors — from US military cooperation to South Korean cultural diplomacy. For Manila, the stakes are tangible: China is the country's largest trading partner, and a blanket anti-China posture carries concrete economic costs alongside the genuine espionage and cyber threats Banlaoi acknowledges.
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