Two YouTube videos are claiming that troops from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have been deployed in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) to launch an armed offensive against China. This is not true.
The parties to the dispute and the contested territory are not under NATO’s operational mandate.
A video uploaded on May 6 bore the following text on its thumbnail:
“NATO DUMATING NA PINALIBOTAN ANG CHINA GIYERA NA? NATO TATAPOSIN NG CHINA (NATO has arrived, surrounded China. Is this war? NATO will end China).”
Its clickbait headline also read: “KAKAPASOK LANG Grabe to! Nagpanic ang CHlNA Nagtatago nasa WPS Pinalibutan ng US AUTRALIA (sic) JAPAN PH (Just in this is extreme! China has panicked! Hiding in the WPS, surrounded by United States, Australia, Japan, Philippines).”
Another video uploaded on May 7 also bore this thumbnail text:
“CHINA NAGTAGO NA. NATO BINIGYAN NG ULTIMATUM CHINA! DELEKADO TO! NATO PINALIBOTAN CHINA! (China has hidden. NATO gave an ultimatum to China! This is dangerous! NATO surrounded China!)”
These are all false. NATO has not and cannot deploy forces in the WPS nor did it issue an ultimatum against China’s aggressive activities in the region.
None of those involved in the territorial dispute in the South China Sea – China, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan – is a member of NATO. The Philippines is not covered by NATO’s collective defense pact among its 32 member countries in Europe and North America.
But the United States, a founding member of the alliance, considers the Philippines as a major non-NATO ally. This designation affords the country “certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation.”
Meanwhile, Australia and Japan are also not NATO members but global partners and this allows them to cooperate with the alliance on matters of counter-terrorism, cyber defense, energy security, maritime security and civil preparedness, among others.
No evidence was shown to support the video’s erroneous claim but it merely showed (May 4-7) clips from Bombo Radyo news reports and commentary from a previously fact-checked vlogger about the WPS maritime row.
The video emerged days after a joint meeting of defense chiefs from the Philippines and its three allies (Read VERA FILES FACT CHECK: NO PH, US, Japan, Australia joint attack on China).
Uploaded by YouTube channel PHILIPPINES TRENDING NEWS with ove 423,000 subscribers, the videos drew a total of 191,871 interactions. Facebook users also reposted the links.
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