MANILA: The Philippines rejected on Friday (Jul 10) a statement from a group of Chinese academics that the country’s northernmost islands rightfully belonged to Beijing.
The Batanes Islands are located less than 200km from self-ruled Taiwan – which China considers part of its territory – and have hosted joint Philippine-US military drills as recently as April.
At the end of June, a university in southern China’s Guangdong said it had held a symposium of over 10 “scholars and experts”, which had determined the Batanes were geographically an extension of Taiwan.
The statement from Jinan University, picked up by some news outlets this week, also disputed Manila’s historical claim to the islands, which is home to fewer than 20,000 people.
Asked whether this reflected China’s official position, Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that it did not “comment on the views of the academic community”.
But Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Oban said on Friday while the Batanes claim had “no merit”, the country viewed the issue with concern and could not “ignore how false narratives can be repeated to manufacture ambiguity where none exists”.
Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, the military’s spokesman for the South China Sea, labelled the symposium’s conclusions a form of “salami slicing,” a term used to refer to China’s alleged attempts to enlarge its territory through small, calculated steps.
Manila’s sovereignty over the Batanes was “settled and not up for debate”, the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs added.
The Jinan University statement appeared to have been taken down on Friday.
When AFP accessed it on Thursday, it said the Jun 30 symposium in the city of Guangzhou was called in response to plans by Manila and Tokyo to begin talks over sea boundaries in waters east of Taiwan, a move that angered Beijing.
President Ferdinand Marcos warned in August last year any war over Taiwan would “drag the Philippines, kicking and screaming into the conflict”.
The Philippines and China have in recent years regularly dealt with flare-ups in tensions over the disputed South China Sea.
Beijing claims the strategic waterway nearly in its entirety, despite an international ruling that said its assertions are baseless.
The anniversary of that decision at the Permanent Court of Arbitration will be on Jul 12.