VERA Files
A video on YouTube is claiming that Germany deployed ships to the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and clashed with Chinese Navy vessels. This is false.
Published on May 14, a YouTube channel posted a video with this erroneous headline:
“KAKAPASOK LANG Diosko po! Lahat naka-alarma na! Nagbanggaan na ang GERMANY at CHINA WPS Tinamaan na! (Just in. Oh my God! All are alarmed! Germany and China clashed, West Philippine Sea is hit!)”
The following text can also be read on the video’s thumbnail:
“GERMANY NAPASUGOD! NAGDEKLARA NA GERMANY AT CHINA IYAK! GYERA NASA (sic) DAGAT! (Germany rushed in! Germany declared [war] and China cried! There is now war on the sea!)”
While the thumbnail photos implied an encounter between German and Chinese ships in the WPS, the narrator never mentioned the false claim throughout the video’s 12-minute run nor was any evidence shown to support it.
Germany did not have a naval encounter with China in the West Philippine Sea. The photos in the thumbnail also did not show any vessel from Germany or China. They were actually edited photos of various U.S. Navy vessels.
Germany never made any formal declaration of war against China but it sent two warships to the Indo-Pacific region last week amid the tensions between China and Taiwan to make its military presence known and support a rules-based international order.
This spurious video emerged after Germany voiced its support for the protection of the rights of Filipinos on the South China Sea.
YouTube channel PHILIPPINES TRENDING NEWS (created on Dec. 10, 2014) published the erroneous video, garnering over 82,000 views and 1,100 online interactions.
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