VERA Files
A YouTube video claims that the United States (U.S.) has attacked China in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) supposedly as a prelude to World War 3. This is not true. The U.S. has not conducted any military offensive against China.
Uploaded on June 30, the video’s headline read:
“KAKAPASOK LANG Diosko! Nagwala ang Amerika sa WPS Pina-ulanan na ang CHINA, Lahat Nag-alsabalutan na (Just in, oh my god! America has gone wild in WPS. Rained bullets on China, everyone was sent packing).”
Its thumbnail bore a photo of a naval fleet along with the text saying: “AMERIKA SUMUGOD NA. MALAKS NA PWERSA PINAULANAN ANG CHINA. WORLD WAR 3 NA (America has attacked. Strong force rained bullets on China. World War 3 now?)”
The U.S. has not launched any military operation in the WPS, nor any armed attack against China in response to its recent harassment of a Philippine Navy supply boat en route to Ayungin Shoal, which injured eight sailors in June. Such a response from the U.S. warrants the invocation of the PH-US Mutual Defense Treaty, but it was not so in this case.
(Read VERA Files FACT CHECK: PH will NOT invoke MDT after recent China clash)
The U.S. State Department condemned China’s “escalatory and irresponsible actions to deny the Philippines from lawfully delivering humanitarian supplies to service members stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre.”
While the same statement also emphasized that the MDT between the U.S. and the Philippines extends to attacks on Filipino forces in the WPS, it made no mention that the MDT will be put into action after the sea clash. The PH-US MDT signed in 1951 is an agreement for both nations to support each other in the event of an armed attack on either the Philippines or the United States.
The photo of ships used in the thumbnail was also not of the U.S, but of Japan’s. It was originally uploaded by Chinese news website KK news in 2019.
The video showed no proof to support its claim but merely played clips from a June 27 Bombo Radyo news report and commentary from a previously fact-checked vlogger over heightened tensions in the South China Sea.
Originally uploaded by YouTube channels PHILIPPINES TRENDING NEWS, the video garnered over 70,000 interactions before getting deleted. Another channel, WANGBUDISS TV, posted a copy of the video which received 41,102 interactions.
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