On May 30, videos showed Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. refusing to engage with a young Chinese man and woman at the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. The pair asked Brawner about the tensions in the South China Sea, and the Philippines’ plans in the area Manila calls Pag-asa Cays.

Brawner waved them off, and soon became the target of a report entitled, “Philippine military chief dodges questions.”

These videos were shared by Media Unlocked, run by the Chinese government. In the videos’ captions, Media Unlocked said its hosts asked Brawner questions on the Philippines’ supposed “recent provocations in the South China Sea,” which he refused to entertain.

Brawner and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. slammed the Media Unlocked video for “twisting” narratives and portraying the Philippines and its officials in a negative light.

Media Unlocked didn’t stop there. 

On Thursday, June 5, it released a video targeting Teodoro this time, blaming the Philippine defense chief for labeling its hosts as “spies.” China did not send an official delegation to the Shangri-La Dialogue, and instead sent what Teodoro called “pretend journalists.”

This is the latest in China’s moves to spread propaganda attacking Filipino officials and figures who are critical of Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea.

What is Media Unlocked?

Media Unlocked is a program by state-run media outlet China Daily. Its videos feature two young hosts named Meng Zhe and Xu-Pan Yiru, who speak fluent English.

The Nerve first learned of Media Unlocked in 2024, when its hosts claimed — without basis — that the Atin Ito coalition, which sails to sea to deliver goods to Filipino fishermen, was "actually secretly funded by the Philippine and the US governments.”

Media Unlocked maintains an active social media presence on Facebook, X, YouTube, and TikTok, where they have a combined following of nearly a million users. Their content is also posted on the social media accounts of China Daily, which has over 127 million followers across platforms.

The social media accounts of Media Unlocked are relatively new. 

Its YouTube channel was created in January 2022, and its X account was created in June 2023. Its Facebook page, which only has 137 followers, is its newest asset, and was created only a year ago in January 2024. Media Unlocked’s TikTok account is also tagged as “China state-controlled media.”

On its accounts, Media Unlocked says its “energetic, patriotic young journalists” cover “China and global issues.” It aims to push back against Western stereotypes of China, which it says are “profoundly limited, biased, and does not help build a peaceful world.”

Tribalist narratives vs US and ‘Western media’

A key feature of Chinese propaganda is disdain towards Western powers, particularly the United States. In Media Unlocked’s videos, its hosts often amplify tribalist, “us vs. them” narratives that portray supposed “double standards” that treat China unfairly.

For instance, in its video attacking Teodoro, hosts claimed the Philippine defense chief started a “smear campaign” and has “labeled every Chinese journalist he encounters a spy.” 

The video showed Teodoro engaging with the hosts at the Shangri-La Dialogue. Their first question was, “Do you think the Philippines is acting as a proxy in the South China Sea for the US?”, to which Teodoro, detecting an ambush, replied, “I’m sure China asks that, right?”

Later in the video, the hosts said they asked why the Philippines “continues to pursue aggressive actions in the region,” which was when Teodoro “lost his temper” and “abruptly ended the exchange.” He called the hosts’ questions “propaganda” — the same comment he made when responding to representatives from China’s National Defense University at the forum.

The following day, the hosts claimed they were stopped from entering the venue after the organizers received a complaint from the Philippine delegation. Media Unlocked framed the incident as an attack on press freedom.

“When Western reporters aggressively question Chinese officials, it’s hailed as hard-hitting journalism. When Chinese journalists ask tough questions, we were accused of espionage and removed from the room,” host Xu-Pan Yiru said.

Another Media Unlocked video from the Shangri-La Dialogue showed US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also ignoring the Media Unlocked hosts’ questions, this time about arms sales to Taiwan. Hegseth’s security was also shown “shoving” the hosts when they tried to approach the US defense chief.

“Is the US here to promote peace, or to sell weapons?” Xu-Pan Yiru said in the video.

Media Unlocked has also attacked the Philippine press in previous videos.

In June 2024, it released a video entitled “An Information War Is Targeting Us,” which attacked PressOne.PH editor Felipe Salvosa II.

In April last year, Media Unlocked’s TikTok account was temporarily banned from the platform. This came after Salvosa and his newsroom wrote a number of reports on the false and baseless claims amplified by the program.

PressOne.PH was among the partners of Internews’ Initiative for Media Freedom (IMF) project, which aimed to “support an independent and free press to counter disinformation.” The IMF project was funded by the US Agency for International Development or USAID.

Media Unlocked then claimed the TikTok ban was part of a supposed “US-Philippine government joint campaign to silence journalists,” and an effort to “[suppress] a narrative that challenges the Western discourse.”

Media Unlocked has also amplified anti-Taiwan narratives, belittling “Taiwan independence,” which is written in quotes. Its hosts also blasted the think tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), which has previously reported on the human rights abuses in Xinjiang. ASPI also previously received funding from the US Department of State.

Pro-Duterte accounts amplify Media Unlocked, but other Filipinos push back

When China Daily’s Facebook page shared the Media Unlocked video on Brawner, it gained 193 shares on the platform as of Thursday, June 5. Among the sharers included several users with pro-Duterte profile photos, some of which include calls to bring former president Rodrigo Duterte back home from the Hague.

A previous Rappler and The Nerve investigation found that pro-China Facebook communities in the Philippines first grew around pro-Duterte bloggers, reflecting Duterte’s move to pivot the country’s foreign policy towards China during his presidency. 

Pro-China communities then grew to include supporters of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and then shrunk again after Marcos rekindled ties with the US after assuming office in June 2022.

One Facebook user, whose profile picture shows Duterte alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, shared the video into at least four Facebook groups. One of these groups explicitly promoted China, while another was dedicated to criticizing US imperialism.

But there was also a concerted push from defense pages and groups, which criticized Media Unlocked’s attempts to engage with Brawner. These pages shared similarly-worded posts calling out the hosts for amplifying Chinese propaganda, while the same user slammed their “desperation and arrogance” in identical posts shared to defense groups.

“When Chinese state media masquerading as independent journalists attempt to push loaded questions based on distorted narratives, walking away isn’t cowardice — it’s an assertion of dignity, truth, and refusal to be baited by a regime that twists facts to justify aggression,” the pages wrote.

An OCTA Research survey from March 2024 found that an overwhelming 91% of adult Filipinos distrust China. Ahead of the 2025 midterm election, a Social Weather Stations survey from March this year found that 78% of Filipinos prefer candidates “who believe in asserting the Philippines’ rights against China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea.”

In a video shared by the AFP’s Facebook page, Teodoro and Brawner discussed their respective encounters with the Media Unlocked hosts, and pushed back against the “misleading and malicious narrative” they circulated. The video has over 738,000 views and over 10,000 shares as of writing.

“Lalaban tayo. ‘Di tayo papayag na api-apihin (We will fight. We will not allow ourselves to be bullied),” Brawner said in the video.  – Rappler.com

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This story was originally published on Rappler on June 6, 2025. It was made in collaboration with The Nerve, a data forensics company that enables changemakers to navigate real-world trends and issues through narrative and network investigations. Taking the best of human and machine, we enable partners to unlock powerful insights that shape informed decisions. Composed of a team of data scientists, strategists, award-winning storytellers, and designers, the company is on a mission to deliver data with real-world impact.