Why a Chinese academic claim over Batanes has unsettled the Philippines

A university symposium in Guangzhou has placed the Philippines’ northernmost province of Batanes at the centre of a new argument over history, geography and sovereignty, after scholars at the event claimed the islands belonged to Taiwan and, on that basis, fell under overall Chinese sovereignty. The claim, made at a June 30 symposium hosted by Jinan University in Guangzhou, has been rejected by Philippine historians and officials, who dispute the scholars’ reading of geography, dynastic...