DND hits back at China over Batanes sovereignty claim
The Department of National Defense strongly condemned a Chinese state media article claiming that the Philippines had “unilaterally brought the Batanes Islands under its jurisdiction” without legal basis.
In its Sept. 4 statement, the DND called the article another way for China to spread a distorted narrative about its sovereignty claims over the Philippines.
"Mariing kinukundena ng Department of National Defense ang state-sponsored propaganda na nag-aangking bahagi ng Tsina ang Batanes. Patunay lamang ito sa patuloy na pagpapakalat ng Tsina ng mga baluktot na naratibo sa buong mundo," it said.
"Hindi kailanman naging bahagi ng Tsina ang Batanes o anumang lugar sa Pilipinas, at kailanman ay hindi natin hahayaan ang anumang pagtatangka sa soberanya at teritoryo ng Republika ng Pilipinas," it stressed.
The statement stemmed from an opinion piece titled History shows that Batanes Islands do not belong to the Philippines, written by Wang Yuanyuan and published by Global Times.
Yuanyuan, an assistant research fellow at the Center for South China Sea History and Culture, National Institute for South China Sea Studies, claimed that Chinese people inhabited the Batanes Islands "since ancient times," based on alleged historical records.
"Archaeological and anthropological studies have also confirmed that the residents of Batanes Islands and those of Lanyu Island in Taiwan belong to the same ethnic group, and historically, they have long been part of Taiwan's Austronesian cultural sphere," the piece claimed.
It further claimed that the Philippines "unilaterally brought Batanes Islands" under its jurisdiction without any legal basis.
PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela dismissed the claims, saying that the developments followed a “script” he said had been seen before in attempts to manufacture a maritime dispute.
He argued that assertions over Batanes cannot be based solely on historical maps, fishing practices, or shared Austronesian ancestry, emphasizing instead the Philippines’ continuous and effective exercise of state authority over the province.
"To the author: you need not fly to Basco to find out who the Ivatans are. Just ask your own Ambassador Jian Quan. He went there himself and paid a courtesy call on the local government—a duly established local government of the Republic of the Philippines!" Tarriela wrote.
China has continued to reject the 2016 arbitral ruling that unanimously ruled in favor of the Philippines in its dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea, saying that China's nine-dash line claim, recent land reclamation activities, and other activities in Philippine waters were unlawful.
It has maintained its activities in areas claimed by the Philippines. In 2025, the National Maritime Council said that the continued presence of the Chinese coast guard, maritime militia, and other vessels within the country's territorial sea and exclusive economic zone violates Republic Act No. 12064, or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, as well as international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS and the 2016 arbitral ruling affirming the Philippines' sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.