Why a Chinese academic claim over Batanes has unsettled the Philippines
A symposium in Guangzhou has claimed Batanes ‘constitutes a natural geographical extension of Taiwan’ and therefore belongs to mainland China
The claim, made at a June 30 symposium hosted by Jinan University in Guangzhou, has been rejected by Philippine historians and officials, who dispute the scholars’ reading of geography, dynastic administration, cultural links and post-war treaties.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China, to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington opposes any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
Beijing has not formally adopted the scholars’ position on Batanes, but the discussion has fuelled concern in Manila that an apparently academic argument could be used to test or shape a wider narrative around the islands, which sit near one of the most important waterways between the South China Sea and the Pacific.