Taiwan’s Government Won’t Say Who Owns the Batanes Islands

Taiwan’s government won’t say who owns the Batanes islands.

The Batanes islands are a small archipelago in the Bashi strait between Taiwan and Luzon. Together, they make up Batanes province of the Philippines.

On June 30, Chinese scholars who convened for a symposium at Jinan University in Guangdong released a statement saying that the Batanes islands belonged to China. They argued that the islands’ geographic and cultural proximity made it part of Taiwan, which they consider to be a Chinese province, and that the status of the islands was left unresolved by historic treaties. 

Prior to this there had been no live or even dormant sovereignty dispute over Batanes.

Following the release by the scholars at Jinan, state media picked up and propagated the Chinese sovereignty claim. The Chinese government has not commented on the matter, and Jinan University has taken down its report.

The Philippines has taken umbrage at the development. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the assertions were “baseless,” “nonsense,” and “ludicrous.” A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said: “The Philippines’ sovereignty over Batanes is settled and not up for debate.”

Taiwan has also said its piece.

On July 12, quotes from an unnamed national security official appeared in Taiwanese media, saying the Batanes claim is “a complete replication of its long-standing cognitive warfare strategy of claiming Taiwan belongs to China.”

It’s “an unrealistic fantasy” said Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉), a spokesperson for Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or MOFA, on July 14. “The Chinese Communists’ claims the so-called One China principle, and under this false lie that does not conform to the facts, they use methods that are almost emotional and infinitely expansionist to claim ownership of the Batanes group of islands.”

China is “constantly generating conflicts with relevant countries,” like Japan and South Korea, Hsiao added. In saying that China’s claim on Batanes goes back to ancient times, he said, Chinese behaviour is quite consistent with the pattern used against Taiwan.

But here at Domino Theory, it was what Hsiao didn’t say that raised an eyebrow. Loudly proclaiming Batanes is not Chinese is not equivalent to saying Batanes is Filipino. 

And saying that the Chinese claim is illegitimate because Taiwan is not a part of China leaves the question of whether Taiwan itself might consider it has a claim on Batanes uncomfortably ambiguous.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines didn’t respond to an email asking for clarification. The Mainland Affairs Council, which handles Taiwan’s relations with China, said that it was a matter for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The presidential office said that spokesperson Hsiao had already addressed the point. 

When asked, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Domino Theory on July 16: 

“There is no territorial dispute between Taiwan and the Philippines regarding Batan Island. It is the unrealistic fantasy of Chinese scholars.”

Unfortunately, that still left the ambiguity intact. So the question was put to the foreign ministry a second time, far more explicitly:

“We are trying to work out whether MOFA is prepared to say that the ROC recognizes Filipino sovereignty over the Batanes Islands. We noticed that in previous statements, including your answer to us, this is left somewhat ambiguous.” (ROC stands for Republic of China, the name of the state that governs Taiwan.)

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs refusal to clarify this point doesn’t inherently mean Taiwan doesn’t recognize Filipino sovereignty over the Batanes islands. But it does beg the question of why they won’t go ahead and say that.

Regardless, this was the foreign ministry’s final reply:

“Thank you for your interest in this matter and for your coverage. We have previously provided a response to your inquiry and will not be repeating that information here.”