For nearly three years, China's state propagandists and its proxies have been working hard to frame SeaLight (and its predecessor, Project Myoushu) as a well-funded instrument of America's military-industrial complex. These charges have been especially amusing to our all-volunteer cadre, many of whom must by now be wondering where I'm hiding all those defense and intelligence dollars.

Now the China Media Group's Voice of the South China Sea site has updated and re-published the English language version of "Ray Powell: Maritime Expert or War Monger" for distribution. No word yet when it will be making its way to a theater near you:

I say "updated" because a forerunner to this particular video made a brief appearance on YouTube late last year under a mysterious account named "SCS Explained". That account was later deleted, likely as part of a purge by YouTube of anonymous state-sponsored propaganda accounts. 

Sharp-eyed readers will note that an identical graphic from that video (captured for posterity in my LinkedIn feed) also appears in the new video above--and also that Joe Felter, Steve Blank and the Gordian Knot Center are reprised as SeaLight's nefarious overlords.

This is hardly the first time that China Media Group has targeted me, SeaLight or the Gordian Knot Center. In fact, one of the more impressive was this highly produced Mandarin-language video released late last year on both Chinese social media and YouTube.

You don't need to speak Mandarin to get the gist ... or for that matter to appreciate the delightfully meme-worthiness of the content.

This brings us to the bottom line: the China Media Group is run by the Chinese Communist Party's Publicity Department. This is the same one that used to be translated "Propaganda Department" before the CCP realized that "propaganda" isn't seen as such an awesome thing outside Party circles and changed the translated name in 1998 (the Mandarin name remains the same).

Near the end of the Voice of the South China Sea video, the CMG rolls out one of its most prominent Filipino surrogates, Anna Malindog-Uy, who can always be counted upon to echo CCP talking points on demand.

As you can see, Malindog-Uy is advertised as the Vice President of External Affairs for the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, which claims to be a "think tank" but does remarkably little thinking. In fact, Asian Century has never produced a single research paper. What Asian Century does do is to act as one of the Philippines' most active and unabashed channels for PRC propaganda--sorry, I mean "publicity".

Something else VSCS don't tell you is that Malindog-Uy is currently living in Beijing earning a PhD in Economics at Peking University's Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, where she is doubtless fine-tuning her craft at the same time as she lends her Philippine credibility to further CCP objectives.

Malindog-Uy was also called upon to contribute to an earlier CGTN hit piece on me and SeaLight last year. Unfortunately for Anna, her initial video during the piece likely showed a little too much of her surroundings for the "Publicity Department's" taste, and she was relegated to audio-only for the rest of the segment after a stuffed Winnie the Pooh video-bombed her shot (though naturally this was attributed to technical difficulties by the host).

Perhaps the most ironic element of this story is how a sophisticated, well-funded state propaganda campaign has targeted the all-volunteer SeaLight Foundation, attempting to paint us as a ... er ... sophisticated, well-funded state propaganda campaign. 

Is it simply that we fit their chosen narrative, or do they really believe this stuff?