Q: On June 25, the Philippine Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a public hearing to investigate Reuters' recent report on the US military spreading disinformation by impersonating Filipinos to discredit Chinese vaccines and anti-epidemic materials during the COVID-19 pandemic. What is the embassy's comment on this?

A: Holding of the above-mentioned hearing by the Philippine Senate is a welcome development. The purpose of this hearing concerns the lives and health of the Filipino people who, together with the rest of the world, have the right to know the truth.

The peoples of China and the Philippines supported one another during the COVID-19 pandemic. China took the lead in providing vaccines and anti-epidemic materials to the Philippines, and provided over 57 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines (including 5 million doses of donation) and considerable amount of anti-epidemic materials to the latter, making significant contributions to the Filipino people's fight against the epidemic and showcasing China as a responsible major country.

According to the said Reuters report and information disclosed during this hearing, the United States not only practiced "America First" in COVID-19 vaccines, but also maliciously obstructed China's assistance to the Philippines in vaccines and anti-epidemic materials. The US military even resorted to impersonating Filipinos on the Internet and using all means to spread rumors and smear Chinese vaccines. The moves were to serve the US'geopolitical self-interest of containing and suppressing China while disregarding lives and health of the vast majority of the Filipino people, and were detrimental to the common interests of public health worldwide, thus should be unanimously condemned by both Chinese and Philippine people and the rest of the world.