Chinese Election Interference in the Philippines: Beijing Accused of Meddling

Con­cerns over Chi­nese elec­tion inter­fer­ence in the Philip­pines have reached a gov­ern­men­tal lev­el ahead of the cru­cial vote. On May 2, 2025, The Diplo­mat report­ed that Philip­pine author­i­ties have pub­licly accused Chi­na of med­dling in the upcom­ing midterm elec­tions, with intel­li­gence agen­cies warn­ing that Bei­jing-affil­i­at­ed enti­ties are active­ly work­ing to influ­ence the May 12 vote through covert online oper­a­tions. The arti­cle begins:

Philip­pine author­i­ties have flagged the alleged med­dling of Chi­na in the ongo­ing cam­paign for the midterm local and nation­al elec­tions sched­uled for May 12. Chi­na has denied the accu­sa­tion, but the specter of for­eign inter­fer­ence has become an elec­tion nar­ra­tive that could influ­ence not just the results but also the long-term prospects of polit­i­cal forces sus­pect­ed of pro­mot­ing anti-Fil­ipino inter­ests. Dur­ing a Sen­ate hear­ing, reelec­tion­ist Sen­a­tor Fran­cis Tolenti­no exposed the role of the Chi­nese embassy in hir­ing “key­board war­riors” to pro­mote an agen­da that runs counter to Mani­la’s claims in the West Philip­pine Sea, as it refers to its por­tion of the South Chi­na Sea.

Read more: https://thediplomat.com/2025/05/philippine-authorities-call-out-alleged-chinese-election-interference/

Key Points

• The Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Coun­cil con­firmed evi­dence of Chi­nese state-spon­sored infor­ma­tion oper­a­tions active­ly inter­fer­ing in the upcom­ing elections.
• Sen­a­tor Hon­tiveros urged pas­sage of the For­eign Inter­fer­ence Act, call­ing the sit­u­a­tion a seri­ous threat to elec­toral integrity.
• Chi­nese Embassy spokesper­son denied alle­ga­tions, accus­ing Fil­ipino politi­cians of play­ing the “Chi­na card” for polit­i­cal gain.
• Inves­ti­ga­tors linked “fake news” accounts pro­mot­ing sym­pa­thy for for­mer Pres­i­dent Duterte to Chi­na-backed dis­in­for­ma­tion networks.

Chinese Election Interference: Tactics, Targets, and Global Reach

Chi­nese elec­tion inter­fer­ence has evolved into a glob­al chal­lenge, marked by a diverse toolk­it that includes dig­i­tal dis­in­for­ma­tion, covert fund­ing, and the manip­u­la­tion of dias­po­ra net­works. In Cana­da, author­i­ties have uncov­ered coor­di­nat­ed efforts to sway fed­er­al elec­tions and tar­get polit­i­cal lead­ers via WeChat-based influ­ence cam­paigns, while the Unit­ed States has respond­ed to Meta dis­man­tling exten­sive Chi­na-based net­works and Twit­ter remov­ing coor­di­nat­ed oper­a­tions that ampli­fied polar­iz­ing nar­ra­tives and erod­ed pub­lic trust. Intel­li­gence find­ings have con­firmed increased for­eign inter­fer­ence dur­ing recent US midterms, with Chi­nese actors using fake accounts, AI-gen­er­at­ed con­tent, and clan­des­tine fund­ing to obscure the ori­gins of pro­pa­gan­da. These activ­i­ties are not lim­it­ed to North Amer­i­ca; sim­i­lar tac­tics have tar­get­ed elec­tions in Tai­wan and Aus­tralia, where cyber-enabled dis­in­for­ma­tion, eco­nom­ic pres­sure, and the mobi­liza­tion of com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­za­tions have become cen­tral strate­gies. China’s approach increas­ing­ly mir­rors the dis­rup­tive tech­niques pio­neered by oth­er author­i­tar­i­an regimes, includ­ing the spread of con­spir­a­cy the­o­ries and desta­bi­liza­tion of infor­ma­tion envi­ron­ments. Across Europe, author­i­ties warn that such oper­a­tions are rapid­ly adapt­ing to new tech­nolo­gies and coun­ter­mea­sures, while recent sur­veys in Hun­gary show grow­ing pub­lic sup­port for clos­er ties with Chi­na among rul­ing par­ty vot­ers, reflect­ing Beijing’s suc­cess in lever­ag­ing eco­nom­ic incen­tives and infor­ma­tion cam­paigns to shape local atti­tudes. This glob­al pat­tern of inter­fer­ence con­tin­ues to test the resilience of demo­c­ra­t­ic insti­tu­tions and high­lights the urgent need for coor­di­nat­ed countermeasures.

Exter­nal References:

1. Chi­na now seen as influ­enc­ing pol­i­tics more than ever, on a glob­al scale

2. For­eign med­dling a ‘stain’ on Canada’s elec­tions, pub­lic inquiry finds

3. Chi­nese elec­tion inter­fer­ence tests Tai­wan’s capa­bil­i­ty to defend free­dom of speech

Disclaimer

The Glob­al Influ­ence Oper­a­tions Report (GIOR) employs AI through­out the post­ing process, includ­ing gen­er­at­ing sum­maries of news items, the intro­duc­tion, key points, and often the “con­text” sec­tion. We rec­om­mend ver­i­fy­ing all infor­ma­tion before use. Addi­tion­al­ly, images are AI-gen­er­at­ed and intend­ed sole­ly for illus­tra­tive pur­pos­es. While they rep­re­sent the events or indi­vid­u­als dis­cussed, they should not be inter­pret­ed as real-world photography.