NHCP debunks claims of scholars who said Batanes belongs to China

MANILA, Philippines – The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) on Friday debunked claims of Chinese scholars who said that Batanes belongs to their country, saying it lacks basis and “would never stand under scrutiny in academic discourse” outside of China.

In a statement, NHCP refuted claims of certain scholars during an academic symposium in Jinan University last June 30, who argued that Batanes is a “natural geographic extension of Taiwan” and, therefore, China should exercise sovereignty over the islands.

“Current satellite and oceanographic data by the Philippines and other nations clearly show a continuous shelf extending from northern Luzon through the Babuyan and Batanes Islands, and into parts of the Taiwan archipelago,” the commission said.

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“The Philippines claims a greater right over the subject territories from this perspective,” it added.

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NHCP also noted that the dean of Jinan University’s School for International Studies had claimed in an article that Batanes Islands were “under the jurisdiction of Taiwan Prefecture during the Ming and Qing Dynasties,” which existed roughly from the 1360s up to the 1900s.

According to the commission, the “earliest known extensive documentation” of Batanes Islands that was made by British explorer Willian Dampier in 1687 showed “no trace of Chinese governance.”

“The natives of Batanes, the Ivatan people, lived in protected communities and traded with other maritime trading nations. This is clear in the archeological and historical evidence produced by more than a hundred years of research,” NHCP said.

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In 1783, the commission said Batanes had been formally claimed as part of Cagayan province by the Spanish Empire, and during the 1896 Philippine Revolution and the First Philippine Republic, the islands were “already recognized as an integral part of our country’s territory.”

READ: Chinese academics claim Batanes belongs to China through Taiwan

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NHCP also recalled how the Ivatan people had struggled against Spanish rule together with other parts of the country, citing the uprising led by Ivatan chieftain Aman Dangat from 1785 to 1791.

“They were represented in the Malolos Congress and every subsequent iterations of our national legislature. They have an elected government, one that is recognized by the whole world as Filipino,” the commission said.

NHCP also refuted the claim that Batanes was among the territories that Japan had seized from China and therefore should return as mandated by international treaties formed after World War 2.

“Japan cannot give to China what clearly belongs to the Philippines,” said NHCP. “The people of Batanes had already liberated themselves from Japanese rule by early 1945. This only proves beyond any doubt that Batanes has always been Filipino.”

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The commission called on “all parties, especially reputable academic institutions, to be true researchers and academics” as it said that “no amount of fabrication will erase the truths of our past.” With a report from Marc Andre Esguerra, intern /jpv