洛丽塔

Behind SeaLight: China-targeting cognitive warfare platform stokes tensions in South China Sea_我的网站

一 |     

    China Coast Guard vessel 3303 deploys water cannons on July 24, 2026, against Philippine public vessel MMOV 3001, which had intruded into China's Huangyan Dao waters, forcing the vessel to turn around and sail away from Huangyan Dao. Photo: Courtesy of China Coast Guard
Cloaked in the academic mantle of a Stanford‑affiliated "think‑tank" but operated by retired US military officers; dispatching no warships but endlessly churning out provocation scripts in the South China Sea, and shifting from choreographing footage of maritime stand‑offs to meddling in legitimate China‑Philippine cultural and academic exchanges, the SeaLight has loomed behind numerous China‑Philippine maritime frictions over the past years.
The true nature of the SeaLight, once stripped of disguise, is a well‑orchestrated cognitive‑war tool targeting China. It delivers strategies, provides talking points, furnishes intelligence and cultivates proxies, weaponizing both maritime confrontations and people‑to‑people exchanges to deliberately stir up tensions in the South China Sea.
A cognitive‑war platform

Public information indicates that SeaLight is affiliated with Stanford University's Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, established in 2021 with sponsorship from the US Office of Naval Research and funding from the US Department of Defense. The funding sources amounted to approximately $12.8 million.
Public records indicate that SeaLight's "director" Ray Powell served 35 years in the US Air Force, including posts in the Philippines, Japan, Germany, and Qatar. In 2022, following his departure from overseas service, he launched "Project Myoushu," which evolved into "SeaLight" in 2023. 
When Global Times reporter browsed SeaLight's website, multiple unprofessional features of this self‑proclaimed "think‑tank" came to light. Aside from its "director" Powell, the team counts merely three other members, one of whom is a web developer.
Even so, this same "think tank" smeared China's lawful actions to safeguard sovereignty in the South China Sea on its website as the world's "most expansive and aggressive maritime gray‑zone programs."
In February this year, Guo Wei, Deputy Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Manila, wrote in an X post that as a US-based organization, SeaLight maintains "an unusually concentrated focus on the South China Sea." It has reacted to maritime developments with remarkable speed, at times even preceding official statements from Philippine authorities.
"Why does SeaLight concentrate so heavily on this specific region? Through what channels does a US-based entity obtain rapid access to satellite imagery and operational information located thousands of kilometers away?" Guo asked. 
A Manila‑based source told the Global Times on Friday that SeaLight maintains close‑knit, in‑depth coordination with the Philippine Coast Guard. The two sides sustain long‑term information exchange and intelligence‑sharing, forming a collaborative model through which the Philippines provokes maritime incidents at sea, SeaLight assigns public‑narrative framing, and social media platforms amplify the hype, to stage targeted cognitive‑war games against China.
Billed as a research institute, SeaLight is essentially a China‑targeting cognitive‑war platform centered on a small group of individuals, supplying the Philippines with policy advice, intelligence inputs and public‑narration talking points, Chen Xiangmiao, a research fellow at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times on Friday. 
In addition, it serves as a megaphone for the Philippines, churning out disinformation across social‑media platforms to viciously smear China and fabricate the "China threat" narrative, courting international attention in a deliberate bid to stoke regional tensions, Chen added. 
"An ex-US Air Force colonel is now running the show in Philippine foreign relations," Rod Kapunan, a columnist for the Philippines' daily newspaper The Standard, wrote in his article in 2024. He further described Powell as the author of the "transparency strategy," which Philippine officials took as "Philippine policy."
"SeaLight hides its main objective, which is to apply the 'missing context fallacy' to create an anti-China narrative out of the South China Sea territorial claims disputes amongst the five littoral states surrounding the strategically critical body of water," Kapunan said in the article. 
"Still, its China‑focused cognitive warfare yields diminishing marginal returns," said Chen, "Repeated lies fail to convince the public. For this reason, it keeps hunting for new material for attacks, yet it can never create any major ripples."
Back in September 2024, an article in The Diplomat titled "The Philippines Should Take Note: 'Assertive Transparency' Is Not a Strategy" noted that it was in 2023, "spurred on by the likes Raymond Powell and the folks at Project Myoushu, that the Philippines began publicizing maritime incidents in the South China Sea." However, what Philippine authorities need to understand is that "assertive transparency" has reached its saturation point.
The second battlefield

For a long period, SeaLight fought its main battles on South China Sea waters, guiding the Philippines to hype stand‑offs and fabricate the false "China bullying the Philippines" narrative. Lately, however, it has shifted its battlefield, targeting normal China‑Philippine cultural and academic people‑to‑people exchanges.
Last month, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. called for greater scrutiny of foreign academic and cultural exchange programs with China, in response to a SeaLight report that claimed China's Jinan University has become the main broker between China's institutions and Chinese-language schools in the Philippines.  
This incident directly forced the cancellation of a three‑week‑long field research trip to the Philippines scheduled for August 4 by Dai Fan, Director of the Center for Philippine Studies at Jinan University.
Dai told the Global Times on Friday that this incident lays bare the fact that SeaLight is by no means a rigorous, neutral academic‑research platform. Instead, it follows a propaganda playbook where conclusions come first and evidence is cobbled together afterwards.
Nevertheless, this simplistic and heavy‑handed narrative is highly deceptive and manipulative in the public opinion arena. It can easily mislead the Philippine public and foster one‑sided perceptions, Dai added. 
In an X post on August 2, the Chinese Embassy in Manila further pointed out that the incident marks Ray Powell's "second battlefield" against China, from maritime disputes to civil society. 
"His broader objective appears clear: to encourage the Philippines to view nearly every interaction with China through the lens of strategic confrontation, gradually transforming the country into a frontline state in Washington's competition with Beijing. The ultimate goal is to systematically turn the Philippines into a 'proxy battlefield' for containing China," reads the embassy's X post. 
The latest report released by SeaLight was immediately echoed by Philippine Defense Secretary Teodoro, underscoring the close collusion between the two sides, Chen noted.
Based on long‑term observations by a Global Times source based in the Philippines, SeaLight, the Philippine Coast Guard and pro‑US, anti‑China hard‑line forces in the country have forged an interconnected chain. They have long sought to push for amendments and upgrades to the Philippines' anti‑espionage law and advance legislation for the so‑called "proxy bill," aiming to establish a systematic, institutionalized anti‑China mechanism.
According to Chen, there is a strong likelihood that Philippine authorities provide financial backing for SeaLight's China‑focused cognitive‑war operations. Meanwhile, Powell and SeaLight have become a key instrument for the Philippine military to secure budget appropriations from Congress.
This strategy creates a sinister closed‑interest loop: stoking maritime frictions, whipping up domestic public sentiment, and pressuring Congress to divert livelihood‑related budgets to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG). The tenser the maritime situation, the more resources flow to the PCG. By contrast, calm seas strip the force of its rationale for expansion, Chen said. 
According to Chen, this opportunistic hype‑driven model adopted by the Philippine side in collusion with SeaLight will ultimately backfire. The South China Sea disputes could have been managed through dialogue to share marine and fishery resources and deliver mutually beneficial outcomes. However, SeaLight keeps stoking conflicts and amplifying divisions, severely undermining the Philippines' environment for peaceful development, at the expense of the Filipino people's vital interests.
Regional countries ought to see through the true nature of such external "think‑tank" projects. They should recognize the harm these entities inflict on regional well‑being, peace and stability by artificially orchestrating public opinion storms over the South China Sea, said Chen.
The Philippines' ill-judged farce of provoking China will sooner or later end in tragedy for itself, Chen warned. 
。    在 VCT China 2026 Stage 2 季后赛败者组第二轮的比赛中，Nova Esports 和 TYLOO 分别淘汰了 Xi Lai Gaming (XLG) 和 All Gamers (AG)，成功在败者组存活。除了常规的赛事积分，这一天对于 XLG 来说至关重要，他们原本面临着获得全球冠军赛（Champions）直通名额或失去该名额的风险。尽管最终不敌 Nova，但由于 AG 在对阵 TYLOO 的比赛中失利，XLG 凭借积分优势还是锁定了前往上海参加全球冠军赛的席位。TYLOO 横扫并淘汰 All GamersTYLOO 和 All Gamers 在赛季中展现了截然不同的竞技状态：一方是开局强势，另一方则是渐入佳境。AG 曾在启点赛（Kickoff）中夺冠并晋级圣地亚哥大师赛，但此后表现下滑。TYLOO 在签下 SiuFatBB 后展现出复苏之势，尽管此前曾负于本届季后赛的黑马 JD Gaming。双方目前都需要重整旗鼓，但 AG 本可以通过 XLG 的失利和自身的胜利，将队伍置于几乎自动晋级全球冠军赛的有利位置。首张地图 Split 上演了激烈的对攻战。TYLOO 选出捷风与雷兹的双决斗阵容，对抗 AG 的镜像阵容。TYLOO 拿下手枪局，但由于后续长枪局失利，AG 顺势打出 5-2 的开局。

二 | 在上半场，仅有 splash 在进攻方保持了正向战绩，帮助 AG 以 9-3 领先进入下半场。

三 | 易边再战，TYLOO 凭借手枪局和长枪局的胜利迅速扭转局面。尽管 AG 一度以 11-6 领先，但 splash 和 TYLOO 的队员们顽强反击将比赛拖入加时。在加时赛中，TYLOO 表现更胜一筹，最终由 splash 和 Erv 终结比赛，以 14-12 拿下首图。splash 在加时赛中对阵 AG 时完成五杀。第二张地图来到日落之城（Sunset），AG 试图用霓虹的双先锋阵容突破 TYLOO 的星礈加贤者双守卫防线。

四 | TYLOO 延续了上一局的状态，拿下手枪局和奖励局，取得 5-1 的领先。然而，AG 迅速做出调整，在 K1ra 使用幽影出色表现的带动下，AG 在半场结束时以 7-5 微弱领先。下半场 AG 赢下手枪局，但 splash 和 SiuFatBB 凭借精准的枪法在经济局翻盘，彻底扭转了局势。尽管 AG 一度反超至 9-8，但随后防线崩溃，TYLOO 以 13-9 赢下第二图，完成横扫。

五 | splash 在两张地图中表现亮眼，全场砍下 51 次击杀，收获 1.39 的评分和 279 的平均每回合伤害（ACS）。此役过后，TYLOO 将在败者组下一轮迎战 Nova 与 XLG 之间的胜者，他们还需要再赢下两场系列赛才能确保晋级全球冠军赛。Nova Esports 在三张地图中强势碾压，成功存活季后赛这一天的第二场比赛堪称火力对决，两支队伍在败者组早期相遇属实出人意料。虽然两队在入围赛阶段均未登场，但 XLG 此前两场系列赛均以 2-1 险胜，而 Nova 则是刚刚横扫了状态火热的 TEC。首张地图 Split 上，XLG 展现了绝对的统治力，通过 Rarga 的霓虹和 NoMan 的烟位，成功压制了 swagzor 的单雷兹阵容。在赢下首个手枪局并转换奖励局后，XLG 凭借 WsLeo 在斯凯身上的精彩表现不断施压。半场结束时 XLG 以 8-4 领先，WsLeo 进攻方贡献 13 次击杀。下半场 XLG 再拿手枪局，并由 NoMan 助攻以 13-6 拿下首图。

六 | 第二张地图来到莲华古城（Lotus），Nova 已退无可退。他们选出双控阵容进行进攻，对抗 XLG 的双决斗阵容。Nova 迅速进入状态，拿下手枪局和奖励局，打出 8-0 的梦幻开局。在 GuanG 的炼狱、swagzor 的雷兹以及 cb 的薇瑟组成的铁三角压制下，Nova 以 10-2 领先进入半场。

七 | 尽管 XLG 赢下手枪局试图反扑，但 Nova 仍以 13-5 扳回一城，将比赛拖入决胜图。

八 | 最终局 Breeze，Nova 选出双决斗加海神阵容，对抗 XLG 的无水系英雄双控阵容。Nova 在上半场打出了比上一局更具统治力的进攻，半场再次取得 11-1 的领先。此役中，除了 GuanG 的稳定发挥外， Ezeir 在海神身上的表现最为亮眼，帮助队伍以 13-3 轻松锁定胜局。Ezeir 全场表现惊艳，收获 1.73 的评分、310 ACS、19 次击杀以及 40% 的爆头率。GuanG 在 Breeze 地图上对阵 XLG 时完成五杀。随着这场胜利，Nova 将在败者组第三轮对阵 TYLOO，争夺败者组决赛的席位。两支队伍目前都必须通过在季后赛中持续获胜，才能确保最终的晋级名额。

Current article:http://gmv0v.pisezuibanzoukou.cyou/list_2kacebj/42gq.html

Published on:07:50:20