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National security experts expose China's 'bandit logic' in Batanes Islands claim

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • China is promoting a new territorial claim over the Batanes Islands, asserting they have historically belonged to China.
  • National security officials view this as a continuation of China's long-standing cognitive warfare tactics, similar to its claims over Taiwan.
  • This strategy involves fabricating historical narratives, distorting international law, and using state-sponsored media to support military coercion.

China is escalating its territorial ambitions in the Indo-Pacific by asserting historical claims over the Philippines' Batanes Islands, a move that has heightened regional alert.

National security sources in Taiwan identify this as a direct replication of China's "cognitive warfare" playbook, mirroring its persistent claims over Taiwan. This strategy, they say, is a coordinated effort by authoritarian states to pressure neighboring democracies through consistent information manipulation and legal challenges.

The tactic hinges on fabricating historical and geographical narratives, much like China's long-standing assertion of sovereignty over Taiwan. Chinese scholars are reportedly linking the Batanes Islands to China through ancient trade routes mentioned in Ming Dynasty texts and the shared Austronesian linguistic heritage between Taiwan's indigenous people and the Ivatan people of Batanes. Security officials dismiss this as "bandit logic," arguing that by this standard, any region with Austronesian ties could be claimed by China.

The approach Beijing is taking on the Batanes issue is virtually identical to the cognitive warfare it has waged against Taiwan for years.

— National security officialDescribing the similarities between China's claims over Taiwan and its new assertions regarding the Batanes Islands.

Furthermore, China is accused of distorting international treaties, specifically the 1898 Treaty of Paris and the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki. These efforts allegedly ignore Spain's historical administration of Batanes since 1783 and the fact that the islands ceded with Taiwan under the Shimonoseki treaty did not include Batanes. This distortion aims to create a false legal basis for China's claim that Batanes should have been returned to China after World War II.

This campaign is reportedly amplified by a coordinated effort involving Chinese academics, official statements, and social media, mirroring tactics used against Taiwan and Japan. The ultimate goal, according to security officials, is to pave the way for overt "gray zone" military coercion in the maritime domain, employing a combination of soft and hard power to alter the status quo.

According to China's logic, New Zealand and other Pacific nations with deep Austronesian ethnic ties could also be claimed as 'historically belonging to China,' which is simply 'bandit logic.'

— National security officialCritiquing China's historical and ethnic arguments for claiming the Batanes Islands.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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