CORRECTED-Blow for China's virus diplomacy as friendship song leaves Filipinos furious

(Corrects likes and dislikes in paragraph 3)
MANILA, April 27 (Reuters) - A music video produced by China
to promote its support for neighbours battling the coronavirus
has backfired in the Philippines, attracting a flood of public
criticism and an online petition that is fast attracting
signatures.
China's embassy released the song by diplomats, singers and
an actor last week, but the lyrics and title "Iisang Dagat", or
"One Sea" in the Philippine language, has not gone down well
with some Filipinos, many of whom see China as a maritime
aggressor in disputed waters.
By Monday afternoon, the video posted last week on YouTube
with the hashtag #CNPHHealAsOne had 149,000 dislikes compared
with 2,100 likes, while a Change.org petition demanding the
video be taken down had more than 8,000 respondents.
Social media critics vented their fury at what they saw as
Chinese propaganda to conceal bullying in the South China Sea
and branded Filipinos involved in the song as traitors.
"We have to stop the evil of China spreading", wrote one,
Leonard Anthony Arcilla. "We do not unify with China", said Elna
Lynda Acuerdo, while Venus Liwanag said the video was "slapping
the faces of each Filipino".
The song is dedicated to front-line health workers of both
countries, some of whom appear in the video with footage of
Chinese doctors and donated health supplies, including hundreds
of thousands of protective masks and testing kits.
The lyrics include lines like "because of your love that
flows like waves hand in hand, we move to a bright future, you
and I are in one sea".
The Philippine response is another indication of China's
coronavirus diplomacy struggling against a history of disputes
and mistrust, particularly in Southeast Asia, where its
assertive maritime presence, and building of islands and
military installations, has unnerved neighbours.
Some people were instead trying to generate likes and shares
for a music video from last year produced by artists from the
Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia called "save our seas", which
takes aim at China's maritime conduct.
The Philippines last week filed diplomatic protests accusing
China of locking radar on a Philippine navy boat and rejecting
its formation of an administrative unit in disputed areas,
following a similar move by Vietnam. It also comes amid unease over China's deployment of
coastguard and survey vessels that have disrupted Malaysian
drilling operations, and the arrival of Australian and U.S.
warships in the area. There are also signs of growing solidarity among internet
users in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asian with Taiwan
and Hong Kong, with old tension being fanned by the emergence of
the new coronavirus.