Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro rejected Chinese scholars' claim to Batanes on July 9, calling it baseless and ludicrous, while Reuters and U.S. News made the decisive qualification that Beijing had not formally endorsed the assertion and the verified Reuters post described only Manila's rejection of the scholars' claim. [1][2]

That boundary separates an official Philippine response from a Chinese government territorial demand: Manila's answer is official, but the claim is scholarly, and no ministry, party organ, official map or announced policy in the cited reporting turns the assertion into a demand by Beijing. [1]

The distinction does not make Batanes irrelevant because the island province lies about 160 kilometers south of Taiwan in the Luzon Strait and has hosted exercises involving Philippine and United States forces, allowing an unofficial historical argument to draw attention in militarized terrain without acquiring the authority of state policy. [1][2]

The next meaningful development would be an official Chinese statement, map or demand, or a Philippine change in exercises, patrols or basing; until one appears, the accurate formulation remains that Manila rejected an unofficial claim in a militarized place and Beijing has not adopted it. The cited reports provide no evidence of annexation policy, new military orders or a changed territorial map from Beijing and no response from Batanes residents or provincial officials on Thursday's claim.

-- DAVID CHEN, Beijing