On April 23, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) posted a song on YouTube with the Filipino name “Lisang Dagat” (meaning “One Ocean,” the song’s Chinese name is “海的那邊”).  The song was to show the CCP’s message that Beijing and the Philippines are collaborating on fighting the coronavirus. China’s Ambassador to the Philippines wrote the lyrics, diplomats and singers from both China and the Philippines performed the song. The 4 minute and 26 seconds Music Video is embedded with many scenes from the CCP’s propaganda such as: that the Philippines were whole-heartedly moved when they received aid from China, including appreciation statements from several of the Philippines’s officials such as President Rodrigo Duterte, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin Jr., Chief Implementer of the National Task Force of COVID-19 Carlito Galvez Jr., and Secretary of Health official Francisco Duque. However, the Filipino public rejected this CCP’s propaganda since the two countries have had high tension over the South China Sea as both sides have claimed sovereignty over large overlapping territories and Beijing seized islands near the Philippines and expanded them into bigger man-made lands.

Within three days of being posted on YouTube, the song received 100,000 dislikes and only 1,000 likes. Some comments were:

• “The West Philippine Sea is ours.”

• “This is the most disgusting song I have ever seen.”

• “You can buy our politicians but not our sovereignty.”

• “Nobody wants to share the same sea with you.”

• “This is a total insult to the sovereignty and people of the Philippines.” (SET News)

Then people from other countries joined to “dislike” the song. By early May, the dislike count rose to 200,000. Some comments were:

• “I’m a Taiwanese. I think this song is insulting.”

• “We support the Philippines. I am from South Korea.”

• “I’m a Malaysian. Brothers of the ASEAN countries, including Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, let us unite against the CCP!”

• “I’m from Vietnam, I am here to press the Dislike key!” (Epoch Times)

By May 30, there were 216,000 dislikes and 3,900 likes to the song.