Philippine Gov't Urged for Firm Response to China's Batanes Claims

The Philippine government should mount a sustained response to renewed Chinese claims over Batanes to prevent Beijing from creating doubt over Philippine sovereignty, the Stratbase Institute said. “Batanes is Philippine territory, its people are Filipinos, and its sovereignty is settled and not up for debate,” Victor Andres “Dindo” C. Manhit, president at the think tank, said in a statement on Sunday. Mr. Manhit was responding to a Sept. 3 editorial by Chinese state media Global Times claiming Batanes was “legally part” of Taiwan and that the Philippines had unilaterally placed the islands under its jurisdiction. The editorial was the latest in a series of Chinese assertions over Batanes. Chinese scholars made similar claims during a June 30 symposium at Jinan University in Guangzhou, describing the islands as a “natural geographical extension” of Taiwan and saying they should fall under Chinese sovereignty. Mr. Manhit called the claims a “clear attempt to manufacture ambiguity” over Philippine sovereignty. “An opinion piece cannot rewrite history, international agreements, or more than two centuries of continuous Philippine administration,” he said. The National Historical Commission of the Philippines has rejected the claims, saying there is no evidence of Chinese governance over Batanes and that Philippine authorities and their legal predecessors have exercised continuous sovereignty over the islands since 1783. The Department of National Defense on Sept. 4 also condemned what it called state-sponsored propaganda claiming that Batanes is part of China. “Batanes has never been part of China, nor has any place in the Philippines, and we will never allow any attempt against the sovereignty and territory of the Republic of the Philippines,” it said in a statement in Filipino. Mr. Manhit urged the government to respond through diplomacy, law, public information and governance, saying repeated claims should not be allowed to turn a settled sovereignty issue into a dispute. “We urge the Philippine government to mount a firm, unified and sustained response — through diplomacy, law, public information, and effective governance — to reject narratives that undermine the country’s territorial integrity,” he said. He also called on Filipinos, civil society, media and academe to counter what he described as false narratives with credible information. “At the same time, we call on Filipinos, civil society, media and academe to stand united in defending the facts: Batanes is ours,” Mr. Manhit said. “False narratives must be met with vigilance, credible information and national resolve.” Malacañang has repeatedly said President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s approach to territorial disputes is to defend Philippine sovereignty while pursuing diplomacy and dialogue in line with international law and the 2016 arbitral ruling. Batanes is home to the Ivatan people and lies about 140 to 190 kilometers south of Taiwan across the Bashi Channel and Luzon Strait. The waters around the islands are strategically important because of their proximity to Taiwan. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking