Does Beijing own Batanes? Why Chinese scholars’ claim is a warning shot to Manila

Chinese scholars have drawn fierce pushback from Manila by claiming Beijing should have sovereignty over the Batanes Islands, while analysts said the academic assertions served as a warning shot amid Japanese-Philippine maritime border talks.

The archipelago, located between Taiwan and the northernmost tip of the Philippine island of Luzon, was the focus of an academic discussion on June 30 at Jinan University in Guangzhou.

At the meeting, scholars from different institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the country’s top think tank, agreed that Batanes legally belonged to Taiwan and therefore fell under Chinese sovereignty, according to a news release from the university published earlier this month, which has since been deleted. They also asserted that China held sovereign rights over the nearby Babuyan Islands.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States and its ally the Philippines, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

The Chinese scholars also argued that Manila’s control over the archipelago lacked a historical and legal basis, citing territorial treaties and ethnic ties between people in Batanes and Taiwan.

According to the university, the discussion “served China’s key strategic interests” and was held against the backdrop of maritime border talks between Japan and the Philippines.