A strategic island leased to a Chinese-linked company has become one of the latest espionage scares in the Philippines. However, this is just one front in a wider battle, with the Philippines and Taiwan both fighting off a rising tide of Chinese influence.
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00:00This is Grande Island in the Philippines. It's 100 acres of tropical paradise and home to a holiday resort leased to a company with Chinese investors. It's also strategically located at the mouth of Subic Bay, a key naval port on the Philippines' west coast.
00:20Just over a month ago, six Chinese nationals were arrested on Grande, charged with espionage, kidnapping and illegal detention.
00:28If in the wrong hands and for wrong purposes, it could play a very significant role in just monitoring the security in this entire area.
00:38Now, the Philippines Defense Department could take over the island.
00:42It's deemed a national security concern as tensions mount with Beijing over rival claims to territory in the nearby South China Sea.
00:50It's from ports here at Subic Bay that Philippine Navy sail out to challenge and ward off Chinese vessels that have entered Philippine waters.
00:58But the case of Grande Island shows that the struggle with Beijing is not just taking place out at sea.
01:04According to Philippine authorities, Chinese espionage is on the rise across the country.
01:10They say Beijing is gathering intelligence, spreading fake news and influencing local leaders, hoping to undermine trust in Philippine institutions and paint itself as the victim.
01:21Some of the Filipino people are jittery, some are alarmed, but many are worried.
01:28That's why we also go on an offensive to reassure the Filipino people, the public, that we're not here to wage war, but we're simply pushing back.
01:42A few hundred kilometres north, across the Luzon Strait, Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, faces a similar battle for public opinion.
01:52There, for the first time, President Lai Qingde has labelled China a hostile foreign force, calling on Taiwanese to expose Chinese collaborators and warning about fake news being spread by Beijing.
02:04The Philippines, too, knows that its people are the first line of defense.
02:30Schools here launching media literacy classes and officials encouraging the public to report suspicious activity.
02:37It was local fishers who found this submersible reconnaissance drone, suspected of sending information to China.
02:44The antenna is now above the surface. It could receive, process, transmit data through satellite communications.
02:55In the seas near the Philippines and Taiwan, China has increasingly made its presence known, asserting its claims of sovereignty by boosting the number of boats and planes it sends into these disputed waters.
03:08And just as Beijing is trying to control territory, it's also trying to control the narrative.
03:14Though there are signs that Beijing's information war is bearing little fruit.
03:19Opinions in this region are hardening against China.
03:22People wary of an external threat not only to their country's territory, but also to their way of life.
03:28Fu Hua Hong, David Santos and Rick Lowert and Subic Bay for Taiwan Plus.