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MANILA, Philippines – A state-run show on Radyo Pilipinas that promotes Chinese culture and history is trending online, but for nasty reasons.
“Wow China”, a collaboration of the Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS) and China Radio International, appears to have been broadcast on the government radio station since mid-2018.
READ: Philippines under increasing media influence in China – report
“Let’s meet our Chinese brothers to improve relationships and friendship,” said part of the program’s opening speech in the Philippines.
An episode on May 10, posted on Radyo Pilipinas’ Facebook page, was shared online over the weekend. With more than 200,000 visits and almost 9,000 likes from 7 p.m. On Monday (May 11), it also generated at least 8,000 angry reactions from netizens. It has attracted at least 4,000 comments so far.
“Why Radyo Pilipinas, did you give China time? Woohoo! China, after all you’ve done to the Philippines, you’re still the good boy in the Philippines! “wrote a Diana Ross Medrina Cetenta in the comments section of the Radyo Pilipinas page.
“What is the concept and China is described as Wow? It is very obvious. Philippine broadcasting, but that is the name of the program. Why not Wow Pilipinas? Wrote another netixen, Lei Kai Dumayag, in Filipino.
The two hosts, Nimfa Asunción and Ernest Wang, spoke lightly about Mother’s Day and the current quarantine for COVID-19.
Part of the hour-long show also offered Mandarin lessons of a certain Serenity from the Confucius Institute Teacher at the University of the Philippines.
Most of the netizens’ comments, who apparently did not know that China’s show had been broadcast for more than a year, expressed disapproval of the show broadcast by a Philippine government station.
“Wow China” also didn’t sit well with Twitter users, making it a trend as of Monday night.
The Office of Presidential Communications Operations has entered into multiple bilateral media and communications agreements with the Chinese government covering communications, media and information sharing and joint production since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016.
The public scrutiny of Wow China came weeks after the music video produced by the Chinese embassy “Iisang Dagat” (One Sea) sparked an outrage scandal. It was supposed to be a tribute to healthcare workers and others on the front lines in the battle against COVID-19, a disease that originated in China.
But netizens viewed the music video as a subtle way for China to assert its claims in almost the entire West Philippine Sea.
Edited by TSB
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