Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Thursday dismissed claims by Chinese scholars that Batanes is part of China, calling them “disinformation” and “outlandish narratives” as a maritime security expert warned the assertions are part of Beijing’s broader “lawfare” campaign to justify expanding activities in the Philippine Sea.
Speaking at the second day of the National West Philippine Sea Summit commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Arbitral Award, Teodoro said China is once again using historical narratives to advance its territorial claims.
“Today, significantly, we see the disinformation in the guise of historical scholarship in a closed society, namely China, once again spewing out false narratives in our northern area,” Teodoro said.
The defense chief urged Filipinos to counter such narratives with factual history.
“We need accurate historical knowledge—not the knowledge of a brainwashed society and pseudo-scholars claiming that Batanes is part of China,” he said.
Teodoro’s remarks came after Ray Powell, director of the SeaLight Maritime Transparency Program, outlined what he described as China’s latest “lawfare” campaign during the summit.
Powell said Beijing does not necessarily seek validation under international law but instead builds narratives backed by military and paramilitary presence.
“China, in practicing lawfare, does not actually need the sanction of international law. What it really needs is a narrative that it can sell to enough people backed by military and paramilitary force,” Powell said.
He said China began conducting maritime patrols east of Taiwan after Japan and the Philippines announced negotiations on delimiting their exclusive economic zones.
According to Powell, the patrols extend beyond China’s own 10-dash line map and are being justified through new academic claims.
“China saw an opportunity. Japan and the Philippines announced negotiations. China used that pretext to do something that they wanted to do anyway,” he said.
Powell said Chinese scholars recently concluded during a symposium that the Batanes Islands are a “natural geographical extension of Taiwan,” adding that the Japan-Philippines maritime delimitation talks “hold no legal validity.”
He described the move as an attempt to provide a legal veneer for actions already underway at sea.
“They assembled the scholars to give them the legal overlay, the veneer to be able to justify what they wanted to do anyway,” Powell said.
While noting that no Chinese government official has formally adopted the claim, Powell said the academic narrative could signal a broader messaging campaign.
“This is the trial balloon… We will see an official report coming out of this symposium, followed in the future, I’m sure, by official government officials talking about this. This is Chinese lawfare in practice, and we are seeing it in real time,” he said.
Teodoro said the Philippines must deepen public awareness of its maritime rights to withstand such disinformation campaigns, stressing that defending the country’s sovereignty begins with equipping Filipinos with accurate historical knowledge.
