ASEAN Beat | Security | Southeast Asia

Philippine Defense Chief Dismisses Chinese Scholars’ Claim Over Northernmost Province

The scholars described the Batanes Islands as a “natural geographical extension” of Taiwan, which therefore belonged to China.

A lighthouse on Sabtang Island, one of the three main inhabited islands of Batanes, the northernmost province in the Philippines.

The Philippines’ defense minister has rejected recent claims by Chinese scholars that Batanes, its northernmost province, belongs to China, describing the assertions as “baseless” and “ludicrous.”

At a symposium at Jinan University on June 30, Chinese scholars from several institutions, including Nanjing University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, claimed that China enjoyed sovereignty over Batanes, a group of islands lying midway between Taiwan and the Philippines’ Luzon island.

According to a report by Jinan University, which was later published by the Guangdong-based news outlet Newsgd, participants described the Batanes Islands as a “natural geographical extension” of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said that the comments were “probably a signal ​of a preconceived intention” by China’s government, which claims sovereignty over the majority of the South China Sea – including large swathes of ocean claimed by the Philippines.

“It is not far-fetched to ​think that this is already part of their plan. And it also validates what we have been saying that they have a plan to control the entire Pacific Ocean,” he said of the scholars’ claims, according to Reuters.

“We know this is baseless. This is nonsense. It is ludicrous,” he ​added. “So this is concerning, and it is something that must be challenged.” Teodoro did not specify what actions Manila might take in response.

As per the Newsgd report, the symposium was convened “in direct response” to the summit between Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae in late May. During their meeting in Tokyo, the two leaders announced the launch of negotiations to delimit their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and continental shelves in the waters east of Taiwan Island.

The Chinese scholars who attended the June 30 symposium “uniformly determined that the move constitutes a grave violation of international law and infringes upon China’s legitimate sovereignty in the waters,” Newsgd reported.

The scholars’ assertions do not indicate that Beijing has formally asserted sovereignty over Batanes, but the issue sets a potentially worrisome precedent for the Philippines.

The SeaLight project at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, which scrutinizes Chinese “gray zone” maritime activities in the South and East China seas, said that the scholars’ conclusions could help support........

© The Diplomat