MANILA, March 7 ------ The National Maritime Council on Thursday debunked Chinese social media posts claiming that the province of Palawan is part of China, saying that this is part of Beijing’s "cognitive warfare."
According to the South China Morning Post, several Chinese internet users falsely claimed that Palawan was originally called “Zheng He Island,” after a famous Chinese explorer. Others meanwhile said that Beijing had recently “restored” Palawan to its original name. “Isang disinformation na naman iyan,” NMC spokesman Undersecretary Alexander Lopez said about the social media posts. “Pero it has to be very clear na while it is true, iyong tinatawag nilang Admiral Zheng, na bumisita siya during the 15th and 14th century sa Southeast Asian, pero walang historical record na bumisita siya sa Palawan. Granting bumisita siya sa Palawan, it does not make na Palawan is part of their territory already. Ganoon din iyong mga other narratives na kung sino man, hindi nagiging parte ng bansa nila dahil bumisita sila sa Palawan,” he explained. “And it is very clear: Palawan has been, is and will always be part of the Philippine territory. It has to be very clear, no debate doon," he added.
Lopez noted that it is important for the Philippine government to address Beijing’s tactics to manipulate the minds of the public amid the ongoing territorial row in the West Philippine Sea. “Alam mo, part ito ng kanilang tinatawag na cognitive warfare. They are trying to shape the minds of the people, internal audience, external audience, para iyong opinyon mag-shift sa kanila. Then iyong mga hindi nakakaalam, ‘oo nga no, tama yata iyon ah’, so we need to debunk these lies actually, these discourses,” he said.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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