After reports emerged in January that Chinese warships tracked a Canadian navy vessel passing through the disputed South China Sea, Chinese social media users began sharing a picture they falsely claimed shows the incident. But the image -- appearing to show a small Canadian vessel dangerously sandwiched between much larger Chinese warships -- bore signs of digital alteration. Canadian media reporting from the HMCS Ottawa said the Chinese ships maintained a distance from the vessel.

"When the Canadian ship Ottawa came to the South China Sea, the Chinese Navy's 052D Changsha and 054A Yuncheng ships were quick to welcome it!" reads a simplified Chinese X post on February 13.

The image appears to show two larger ships sandwiching a smaller vessel labelled "Canada's HMCS Ottawa" on the open sea.

Text under the image reads sarcastically: "Canada's Ottawa warship was treated with courtesy in the South China Sea. It received a bodyguard escort the whole way, and its captain was dismissed mid-journey."

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It goes on to suggest China's navy is the strongest in the South China Sea and that it will treat American warships similarly.

The image surfaced elsewhere on X, Facebook, and Weibo alongside similar claims about Chinese warships "sandwiching" HMCS Ottawa.

The Canadian navy has taken part in recent months in several patrols in the South China Sea with the United States, Australia, the Philippines and Japan to assert freedom of navigation and flights in a strategic...

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