
Breaking Ranks
A historically China-leaning Filipino Chinese newspaper prominently covers a Reuters exposé alleging a Beijing-funded disinformation campaign targeted President Marcos and US alliance.

On October 8, 2003, the Chinese Commercial News (菲律賓商報), a Chinese-language newspaper in the Philippines with close ties to PRC media and official entities, signed a cooperation agreement with Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po (文匯報), a newspaper operated by the Chinese government in the SAR, to publish a Philippines edition featuring content provided by the Hong Kong outlet. According to Wen Wei Po, the arrangement delivered “fresh content and lively page layouts” that were “widely praised,” with the newspaper’s “influence steadily rising” in the Philippine market. Wen Wei Po added that the deal positioned it to expand its reach across Southeast Asia through local Chinese-language media outlets. By 2008, Wen Wei Po reported that its overseas editions, including the Philippines version, had achieved a combined circulation exceeding 400,000 copies across more than a dozen international markets.
