This photo released on July 7, 2026 shows a man walking along a road in Basco, Batanes. (Courtesy: Radyo Pilipinas Batanes)
A security analyst on Thursday rejected a Chinese scholar’s claim that Batanes is part of China through Taiwan, saying the assertion has no historical or legal basis.
Dr. Chester Cabalza, president and founder of the International Development and Security Cooperation, said Batanes has long been an integral part of the Philippines.
“I come from Region 2 in Cagayan, and Batanes is part of Cagayan Valley,” Cabalza told Manila Standard, underscoring the province’s established place within Philippine territory.
His remarks came after West Philippine Sea monitor SeaLight reported that some Chinese scholars had claimed the Batanes Islands were part of China through Taiwan.
Cabalza said China’s expanding territorial assertions have drawn criticism internationally.
“It becomes a laughingstock to the international community when China keeps on expanding its claims to the Philippines,” he said.
He also argued that if China were to base its claim on Austronesian cultural and historical links between Taiwan and the Philippines, the same reasoning could be used to claim much of the Pacific and even Madagascar.
“If that’s the case, knowing the extent of the Austronesian influence from Taiwan to the Philippines, they might as well claim the entire Oceanic region and Madagascar in Africa,” he said.
“This shows the consistent falsification of Beijing’s desperate attempt to ruin its own credibility,” he added.
Historical records also identify Batanes as Philippine territory.
A 1996 study by the late University of the Philippines Diliman archaeologist Dr. Eusebio Dizon and colleagues describes Batanes as the northernmost province of the Philippine archipelago, bounded by Taiwan across the Bashi Channel to the north, the Philippine Sea and Pacific Ocean to the east, the Babuyan Islands of Cagayan to the south, and the South China Sea to the west.
Batanes, the country’s northernmost and smallest province by land area, covers about 230 square kilometers and has approximately 4,500 square kilometers of territorial waters.