Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. warned that Chinese scholars’ claim of Batanes, the Philippines’ northernmost province, as part of China is a prelude to its wider maritime ambitions.
Teodoro’s issued the warning July 9 after maritime security expert Sealight Executive Director Ray Powell drew attention to a recent Chinese state media report on a symposium at Jinan University in Guangzhou where Chinese scholars argued that Batanes is a “natural geographical extension” of Taiwan and therefore belongs to China.
The report on the symposium first appeared July 2 in “South App,” the English-language mobile portal of the Newsgd.com website .It claims to be the only official provincial English news platform in Guangdong,
“I view this as once more, probably, it’s a signaling of a preconceived intention already. Hindi rin malayo na nasa plano nila yan. And it also validates yung sinasabi natin na they have the plan to control the whole Pacific Ocean (It’s not far-fetched to think this is already part of their plan. And it also validates what we’ve been saying—that they have a plan to control the entire Pacific Ocean)… It’s ludicrous,” Teodoro told reporters on the sidelines of National West Philippine Sea Summit at Conrad Manila.
“Ang delikado dito, Sa kanilang closed society, sa tao nila, naniniwala ang mga tao nila dito. Kaya nila, brainwashed eh, ang mga tao nila eh. So, ito’y concerning. Kaso, ito’y dapat labanan,” he said. “We should not allow this to go unresponded to.” (The dangerous thing here is that in their closed society, their people actually believe this. Their people have been brainwashed. So, this is concerning. This is something that must be fought. We should not allow this to go unresponded to.)
Batanes sits along the Luzon Strait, a critical passage linking the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and is located south of Taiwan, a self-ruled island which China claims as its part of territory and has vowed to reunify with the mainland by force if necessary.
The South App report said scholars from Nanjing University, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and other universities and research institutions attended the symposium June 30 and “unanimously concluded that the Batan Islands constitute a natural geographical extension of Taiwan, with sovereignty belonging to China, and that so-called Japan-Philippines maritime delimitation negotiations in the area hold no legal validity. “
The Chinese Embassy in Manila has not replied to queries by media whether the scholars’ claim reflects the government’s position.
However, the scholars’ reference to the Japan-Philippines maritime delimitation negotiations is almost similar to the May 29 statement of Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning following the state visit of President Marcos to Japan where he agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to elevate Philippine-Japan ties including “deeper security and defense cooperation and enhanced maritime collaboration.”
Mao Ning said: “The area the two countries announced they will delimit is east of China’s Taiwan island. According to China’s domestic law and international law including UNCLOS, China has exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in this area. Japan and the Philippines’ so-called maritime delimitation talks constitute a severe violation of China’s maritime rights and interests, UNCLOS and other international law and basic norms governing international relations. China strongly deplores and firmly opposes that and has lodged serious protests with both countries.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs dismissed the claims calling it “flight of fancy that should not be dignified with a response.”
“Nevertheless, the Philippines sovereignty over Batanes is settled and not up for debate. The Philippines will not entertain revisionist claims over its territory and calls on so-called scholars to focus their energies on genuine, good-faith studies of the region. The Philippines-approved Consular district of the Chinese Consulate General in Laoag includes the Philippine province of Laoag,” the DFA said.
Powell, who was also at the National West Philippine Sea Summit said the symposium was convened in direct response to the Philippines and Japan’s announcement that they would launch formal negotiations to delimit their maritime boundaries. Beijing staged patrols east of Taiwan following the announcement.
“China saw an opportunity. China used that pretext to do something that they wanted to do anyway, which is begin running these patrols east of Taiwan into the Philippine Sea,” he said. “They then assembled the scholars to give them the legal overlay, the veneer, to be able to justify what they wanted to do anyway.”
“We call this a pretext to escalate. The pretext was the talks. The escalation now is underway.”
While stressing that no Chinese government officials have formally asserted sovereignty over Batanes, Powell said the academic claims could signal the start of a broader campaign.
“So far, there have not been any official government officials talking about the Batanes part of this, the claim over Batanes. But this is the trial balloon. They are starting with provincial-level state media report. I’m sure we will see an official report coming out of this symposium, followed by, in the future, I’m sure there will begin to be officials, government officials talking about this.”
Jinan University, which hosted the symposium of Chinese scholars, is a national public university in Guangzhou. According to its official website, the university is listed in ‘211 Project’ and is “jointly constructed by The United Front Work Department (UFWD) of CPC Central Committee, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China and Guangdong Province.” The UFWD of the Chinese Communist Party is responsible for overseas influence operations.
The university also hosts a Center for Philippine Studies focused on researching Philippines-China relations, history, and culture. It works with local universities and academic institutions including Ateneo de Manila University.
Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Adm. Jay Tarriela said these expanded claims should not go unchallenged. “We should really debunk and counter all these lies. Otherwise, kapag hindi natin pinatulan ‘tong mga ganitong kasinungalingan uulit-ulitin lang nila and they are going to rewrite history once again. Baka hindi natin alam, baka pati Ilog Pasig angkinin na rin ng China.” (Otherwise, if we don’t challenge these falsehoods, they will just keep repeating them and they are going to rewrite history once again. Before we know it, China might even claim the Pasig River as its own.)
Maritime security expert Jay Batongbacal, in a social media post, said China was “laying the groundwork for any future attempt to take Taiwan by force” and will “it will necessarily include taking the Batanes Islands and they will use this an excuse.”
“Despite the seeming silence of the Chinese government, nothing happens in China without its blessing and backing. This is an implied threat (the equivalent of “nagpaparamdam” in an international setting) that Beijing will consider taking the Batanes Islands should the Philippines and Japan continue the improvement of their relations, which from Beijing’s perspective runs against their interest in forcefully taking Taiwan,” he said.
