Geopolitical Analysts Call Hogwash on Batanes Being Part of China
Pundits call the claim intellectually dishonest, a false narrative dressed as scholarship
by JV Ordoñez
Published on Jul 10, 2026
Chinese scholars on Wednesday claimed that the northernmost island chain of Batanes province belongs to Beijing through Taiwan, which the Philippine government and geopolitical commentators are adamantly dismissing as efforts to beef up a propaganda machine.
Chester Cabalza, founder of the Manila-based security think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, told Esquire Philippines in a Facebook Messenger chat that the claim is rooted in the "Out of Taiwan" theory, which hinges on a narrative of Austronesian migration that links language and culture from Taiwan across the Philippines, the Pacific, and as far as Madagascar. This also led to Chinese local governments picking up reports of Tao people from Taiwan sailing to Batanes and repurposing the story to imply Beijing's ownership of the islands.
"If they claim Batanes as part of China, then let them claim Oceania and Africa as part of their territory as well," the security expert said. "That is intellectual dishonesty. World academia will be laughing at them if they keep on insisting on that twisted story."
Former Deputy National Security Adviser and the current president of the Philippine Society for International Security Studies Rommel Banlaoi stressed that the Treaty of Paris of 1898 and the Treaty of Washington of 1900 are definitive historical documents that clarified boundaries ceded from Spain to the United States.
"Philippine sovereignty over Batanes is not a matter of debate; it is a matter of fact," Banlaoi wrote. Independence in 1946 and the 1987 Constitution, he said in an opinion piece on EurasiaReview.com.
"Independence in 1946 confirmed Batanes as part of internationally recognized Philippine territory, and the 1987 Constitution folds it into the national territory outright. Its residents vote in local and national elections and live under Philippine law."
He noted that Batanes is a highly strategic part of the Philippines, facing Taiwan across the Bashi Channel, and acts as a corridor linking the highly disputed South China Sea to the western Pacific. This is also a crucial province relevant to Taiwan Strait security.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.
Where the Claim Came From
The claim traces to a June 30 symposium at Jinan university in Guangzhou, where scholars from Nanjing University, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and other institutions came to a consensus that the Batan Islands (the largest islands in Batanes), are a
natural geographical extension" of Taiwan and therefore fall under Chinese sovereignty. This is based on a report carried by Guangdong-based outlet Newsgd. State media outlet Global Times ran the symposium's arguments by framing them as grounds for China to assert its sovereignty over Batanes.
Though neither the Chinese Communist Party, the central government, nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has formally endorsed the claim.
The timing here isn't very peculiar since the symposium happened days after Philippine President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced maritime boundary talks in waters east of Taiwan. Remember that this is ahead of the tenth-year anniversary of the United Nations' Permanent Court of Arbitration's ruling that voided China's sweeping 80 percent claim over the resource-rich South China Sea.
Both Asian nations have been at odds over persistent sea clashes and air disputes over contested features in the resource-rich waterway that sees about $3 trillion in trade passing through it every year. Manila has failed to enforce its 2016 ruling victory before the United Nations' Permanent Court of Arbitration, which ruled China's historical claims based on a 1940s map covering a "nine-dash line" territory had no legal basis under international law.
Manila's Rebuttal
Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesperson Analyn Ratonel said on Thursday night that Manila's sovereignty over Batanes isn't really up for debate and has long been settled. The Department of Foreign Affairs also pointed out that the Philippine-approved consular district of China's own Consulate General in Laoag includes Batanes, which makes Beijing's diplomatic paperwork unintended counterevidence against the scholarly theory.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro called the claim "baseless" and "ludicrous" and something concerning enough to challenge.
"I view this, once again, as probably a signal of a preconceived intention,” he told reporters. “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.
“What is this for, right? And we know this is baseless. This is nonsense. It is ludicrous,” he said. “So this is concerning, and it is something that must be challenged."
The province is about 160 kilometers, or a hundred miles, south of Taiwan, bordering the strategically instrumental Luzon Strait that links the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Batanese has a population of about 20,000 Filipinos.
Teodoro noted that Manila needs to ramp up its efforts to upgrade military capabilities and the political will to prioritize defense along with other state programs.
"“The West Philippine Sea and its resources are ours and those for the future generations," he said.
“International law and UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) guarantee this. We are absent, beyond, or devoid of any need to enter into any special relationship because it is an entitlement," said the defense chief, who is barred from entering mainland China, Macau, and Hong Kong for his outspoken rejection of China's claim over the South China Sea and him calling out aggression in the waterway.
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines has also dismissed China's supposed sovereignty over Batanes, citing satellite and oceanographic data that shows the Batanes Islands exist within a continuous continental shelf from Northern Luzon through the Babuyan Islands before reaching Taiwan.
"Knowledge can only be true if grounded on good faith. No amount of fabrication will erase the truths of the past, according to a statement from the agency.
President Marcos has been trying to persuade his neighbors like Malaysia and Vietnam to hold talks on a Code of Conduct for behavior in the South China Sea while pursuing a broader regional pact with Beijing
Besides the two countries, other nations such as Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam have overlapping claims to parts of the South China Sea.
Beijing insists on its claims derived from 1940s maps, which it sees as its historical claim over the waterway that sees more than $3 trillion worth of global trade flow through it.
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