Philippines rejects Chinese scholars' claim on Batanes

The Philippines has forcefully rejected claims by a group of Chinese academics that its northernmost province, Batanes, belongs to China, dismissing the assertions as baseless and a dangerous form of information warfare. The claims emerged from a symposium held at Jinan University in Guangzhou on June 30, where scholars argued the islands are a natural geographical extension of Taiwan and therefore fall under Chinese sovereignty.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, speaking to reporters on July -, described the scholars' conclusions as "nonsense" and "ludicrous." He stated the claims likely signaled a preconceived intention by China's government and validated long-held Philippine assessments about Beijing's regional ambitions. "It is not farfetched to think that this is already part of their plan," Teodoro said. National Security Adviser Eduardo Oban and the Department of Foreign Affairs also issued statements, with the DFA calling the claims "flights of fancy" and asserting that Philippine sovereignty over Batanes is "settled and not up for debate."

The symposium, reported by the state-affiliated Guangdong news outlet Newsgd, was convened in response to a late-May summit...