China state media revives 'manufactured' Batanes claim
MANILA, Philippines — Chinese state media has again amplified claims questioning Philippine sovereignty over Batanes, publishing an opinion piece that argues Manila has no legal basis for exercising jurisdiction over the country's northernmost province.
The September 3 article in the state-run Global Times comes two months after scholars from several Chinese institutions first advanced the claim that Batanes belongs to China through Taiwan. Beijing, however, has not formally asserted sovereignty over the province.
The opinion piece, titled "History shows that Batanes Islands do not belong to the Philippines," was written by Wang Yuanyuan, an assistant research fellow at the Center for South China Sea History and Culture of China's National Institute for South China Sea Studies.
Wang argued that Batanes historically fell outside Philippine territorial boundaries and was instead linked to Taiwan, questioning the legal basis for Philippine sovereignty over the islands.
Manila-based think tank Stratbase Institute rejected the renewed assertion, describing its repetition as a "clear attempt to manufacture ambiguity where none exists."
"Batanes is Philippine territory, its people are Filipinos, and its sovereignty is settled and not up for debate," Victor Andres "Dindo" Manhit, president of Stratbase, said.
He urged the Philippine government to mount a sustained response through diplomacy, law, public information and governance to prevent repeated assertions from developing into what he described as a "manufactured dispute."
"An opinion piece cannot rewrite history, international agreements, or more than two centuries of continuous Philippine administration," Manhit said.
Earlier claims
The latest Global Times article follows a June 30 symposium at Jinan University in Guangzhou, where scholars from Chinese universities and research institutions argued that Batanes was a "natural geographical extension" of Taiwan and that sovereignty therefore belonged to China.
Participants included scholars from Jinan University, Nanjing University, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and other institutions.
Global Times published the arguments in July, reporting that some of the scholars called on China to take action to assert sovereignty over Batanes.
The claims drew strong objections from Philippine officials.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said Philippine sovereignty over Batanes was "settled and not up for debate" and rejected what it called revisionist claims over Philippine territory.
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines also disputed the scholars' historical arguments. It said Philippine governments and their legal predecessors have continuously administered Batanes since Spain formally incorporated the islands into the Province of Cagayan in 1783.
The NHCP also said historical records did not support claims that Batanes was governed as part of Taiwan during the Ming or Qing dynasties.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. separately dismissed the assertions as baseless, while Batanes Rep. Ciriaco Gato Jr. stressed that the province and the Ivatan people are unequivocally Filipino.
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