The Philippines’ defense minister has rejected recent claims by Chinese scholars that Batanes, its northernmost province, belongs to China, describing the assertions as “baseless” and “ludicrous.”
At a symposium at Jinan University on June 30, Chinese scholars from several institutions, including Nanjing University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, claimed that China enjoyed sovereignty over Batanes, a group of islands lying midway between Taiwan and the Philippines’ Luzon island.
According to a report by Jinan University, which was later published by the Guangdong-based news outlet Newsgd, participants described the Batanes Islands as a “natural geographical extension” of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said that the comments were “probably a signal of a preconceived intention” by China’s government, which claims sovereignty over the majority of the South China Sea – including large swathes of ocean claimed by the Philippines.
“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,” he said of the scholars’ claims, according to Reuters.
