A year-old report about a Chinese military aircraft plummeting into the South China Sea was posted a week ago by a Filipino netizen who erroneously claimed it happened after the laser-pointing incident involving a Philippine vessel early last month.
Posted on Facebook (FB) and YouTube on March 1, the video carried the headline:
“China kinarma kaagad! Isang Chinese fighter aircraft bumagsak umano sa South China Sea (China hit by karma right away! A Chinese fighter aircraft allegedly crashed in the South China Sea).”
At the 26-second mark, the narrator claimed the incident occurred after the China Coast Guard directed a military-grade laser at a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel in Ayungin Shoal on Feb. 6. Seconds later, the narrator talked about Vietnamese journalist Duan Dang’s tweet and a report about the crash.
The crash, reports confirmed, happened in Sanya, China in March last year.
On March 6, 2022, Dang posted that a Chinese maritime patrol aircraft lost contact in Sanya just days before.
Then on March 10, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau Director Chen Ming-tong confirmed that a Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft crashed into the South China Sea early that month. The bureau also affirmed Dang’s other claim that China declared military drills to conceal their search-and-rescue operations.
However, there were no statements from China regarding the crash.
The thumbnail photos showing an explosion at sea and an aircraft were also unrelated and were published in 2003 and 2015, respectively.
In the second half of the video, it was claimed that the Philippines sank an illegal Chinese fishing vessel. The photo shown was actually that of a foreign vessel blown up by Indonesia in 2016 for fishing illegally in one of its provinces.
The incorrect posts came out more than three weeks after the laser-pointing incident.
On Feb. 12, the Department of National Defense filed a diplomatic protest against China condemning its “aggressive activities.” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin denied the allegations and claimed the PCG vessel “intruded into the waters off the Ren’ai Reef without Chinese permission.”
On Feb. 14, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian to the Malacañang Palace to discuss the matter.
The video uploaded by the FB page PH TV (created on Nov. 1, 2021) has 23 reactions, 13 comments, 2,400 views and five shares as of writing. PH TV’s YouTube channel (Nov 2, 2015) also garnered 11,109 views. To skirt accountability issues, PH TV‘s videos start with a five-second disclaimer saying the netizens should rely on their information “at their own risk”.
Have you seen any dubious claims, photos, memes, or online posts that you want us to verify? Fill out this reader request form or send it to ‘VERA, the truth bot’ on Viber.
(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)