A staff member transports a cargo containing Sinovac vaccines in Pasay City, the Philippines on Nov. 17, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]

A recent Reuters investigation has found that the U.S. military launched a secret disinformation campaign to discredit Chinese vaccines in the Philippines, a nation severely impacted by COVID-19.

The disclosure has sparked widespread condemnation of the U.S. scheme from public health experts. Even former U.S. intelligence officials have decried the disinformation campaign.

Many experts have pointed out that America attempts to maintain its hegemony and hinder China's development with false narratives, manipulation of public opinion, and countless lies. Its campaign to discredit China's vaccines was not based on scientific evidence but rather on geopolitical motives and strategic gains.

Anna Malindog-Uy, vice president of the Manila-based think tank Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, told Xinhua that "Washington's covert operation undermining Beijing's efforts to assist the Philippines and the Filipino people in combating the COVID-19 pandemic raises significant ethical and strategic concerns and questions."

"Discrediting vaccines based on geopolitical motives rather than scientific evidence undermines the collective effort needed to combat a pandemic," the expert said.

The clandestine anti-China propaganda reveals "a willingness and deliberate actions on the part of the United States to manipulate public opinion and international relations for strategic and geopolitical gains," Malindog-Uy said, adding that the United States has also spread disinformation to defame China in other fields like the South China Sea, to sow discord between China and other countries.

"This is indeed a manifestation of the U.S. fixation on global hegemony," she said.

In fact, the disinformation campaign is not the first time Uncle Sam has resorted to dirty tricks. Reuters reported in March that former U.S. President Donald Trump authorized the Central Intelligence Agency in 2019 to launch a clandestine campaign on Chinese social media aimed at turning public opinion in China against its government.

The U.S. government is the biggest propagator of disinformation, said U.S. Republican Senator Rand Paul.

America's dirty moves come at a cost for the Philippines. Vaccination is of great importance to the health of millions of Filipinos and Reuters reported that the difficulty in vaccinating the population contributed to the worst death rate in the region.

For the sake of its selfish gains, Washington never hesitates to sacrifice an ally. As British American historian Bernard Lewis pointed out in his book "Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian," the real problem with having the Americans as allies is you never know when they will turn around and stab you in the back.

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