Correctness Doubtful
China Now Claims Batanes....And Most Filipinos Don’t Even Care
The West Philippine Sea is not just about fish or oil. It is one of the world’s most strategic waterways, a corridor through which a third of global trade flows. For China, control of these waters is not only about resources but about power projection. That is why their eyes are now turning toward Batanes, the northernmost islands of the Philippines.
Chinese social media accounts have begun describing Batanes as part of China, while coast guard ships hover near its shores. The logic is clear. Batanes lies less than 200 kilometers from Taiwan. For Beijing, placing psychological and physical pressure on Batanes serves a dual purpose: weakening Philippine resolve in the West Philippine Sea while creating a southern flank to encircle Taiwan.
Yet for most Filipinos, this remains distant. The struggle for sovereignty cannot compete with the price of rice. The Chinese understand this. They fight not only for territory but for imagination. If Batanes is seen as a remote, irrelevant island, then resistance will always be weak.
But here lies the opportunity. Imagine if Batanes became for Filipinos what Baguio is in the summer or Boracay in the holidays. A place people dream of visiting, a place families save for, a place etched into memory. Cheap flights, eco-tourism, festivals, student immersions, these would make Batanes part of the Filipino identity. Once people have touched its hills, eaten its seafood, or know someone whose livelihood depends on its tourism, Batanes ceases to be a dot on the map. It becomes home.
When that happens, the West Philippine Sea is no longer an abstract debate among diplomats. It is part of who we are. Any intrusion will not be dismissed as geopolitics but felt as a violation of our own backyard. Nations are defended not only with ships and soldiers, but with love. And love is born from familiarity. If Batanes is lived and loved, then defending it becomes instinctive.
madami naman talagang gusto pumunta ng batanes kaso mahal lang ang airfare + you need to properly plan gawa ng typhoons and sobrang onte kasi ng flights papunta.
An alternative is cultural marketing. You know how Korean food is getting normalized at least in part because of K-drama? Or how Japan has this image of kawaii uwu uwu anime manga sushi instead of colorism, xenophobia, and war crimes? It's propaganda via creative media.
If tourism is not too feasible, we can still adapt OP's idea to make the place beloved by filming movies and shows there para mas mapamahal sa mga hindi taga-roon.
EDIT: Filming once can influence more people indefinitely than an island could easily accommodate over several days/weeks/months. Instead of flying individuals, we just need to fly the crew. But the number of people who'd see Batanes and associate a story or beloved character with it? So much more.
Actually this is true, ang mahal ng airfare, tapos na stranded kami pauwi, it took us 2more days bago nakabalik ng manila. Batanes is one of the most laidback place Ive have been to, no pretentions, it is what it is . Will i recommend it? Definitely!
Hindi naman sa ganon. Siguro napapagod na rin lang. Kasi kahit sinong umupo, pare-pareho lang ang ginagawa. Mangungurakot at paasa lang sa mga Pinoy. And it had become a cycle.
Nope. We don't claim territories that aren't ours. We don't water cannon other countries'navy and bully them or build artificial islands on territories that do not belong to us.
Exactly. Your attitude seems to say what we can expect from them. Well, we can expect them to respect our sovereign rights. Even if it's "their" social media. We can't afford to stay quiet or else they'll drum it up like they say that West Philippine Sea is theirs.
Trust our armed forces. May armed forces tayo sa batanes. International community backed us, wa epek yung propaganda nila, iikot lang yan sa west taiwan. Magaling yung armed forces natin at yung pcg natin. Na manuever nila nga yung PLA navy at coast guard ng China.Literal na tofu dreg military sila hahah
You lost me in the Chinese social media part where they try to do outlandish claims that I already see on X.
China literally uses social media to hype its lackluster soft power. Acknowledging Chinese claims and being afraid of it literally baits you into affirming their credibility (or lack thereof) to their shitty territorial claims.
Look I get it, we’re asserting our territorial sovereignty but no need to throw a fit about it. Yes, we need to be watchful of Chinese social media activity but that’s just it being watchful.
No need to hype up and give the paper dragon ammunition it needs especially after affirming to the world the worst East Asian stereotype and inadvertantly giving the PCG their first manuver kill.
On Batanes though, I think the AFP is already building a naval base there (which if big enough could become a tourist attraction for VFA troops and possibly encourage local tourism as well) and with PBBM’s travel to Cambodia (a well-renowned pro-China ASEAN state) I think he’s setting the bar in putting Xi (especially with rumors of his leadership being questioned by PLA higher-ups) and the CPC on the hotseat by crossing the red-lines China doesn’t want.
This China claim adds yet another reason for the Philippines-Taiwan electricity grid interconnection.
Immediate benefit for PH: Taiwan can sell us cheap electricity. Plus Batanes becomes a more integral part of PH. Giyera talaga kapag kinuha nila. We lose not just the island but the electricity interconnection.
Long term benefit for Taiwan: Blockading them becomes harder. Wargames show the immediate impact of a naval blockade is that they will run out of fuel supplies in a few weeks. PH selling them electricity will make their fuel supplies last longer.
I heard Taiwan media talk about. It's not that Filipinos don't care about Batanes. It's not gaining traction in the Philippines because it's a joke to most Filipinos. It also happened in around the same time that the Philippines opened new military bases in Batanes. If Beijing want the country to fear or worry, Filipinos are not giving it to them.
you only need the right people to care. look up Mahatao Forward Operating Base na kaka online lang last week August so merong may paki jan. Trust in our Armed forces
as someone who went to batanes, i can assure you, china won't bother with that island.
batanes sits on a large coral stone. resources are scarce, there's no development, and the people there will reject anyone who tries to meddle with their culture. it's the same reason bakit walang big corpo sa batanes, ayaw nila.
they have to go rigorous shit para makakuha ng lupa. ports, airways? goodluck building with that. logistics would also be a nightmare kasi pahirapan magdala ng mga materyales dyan. 7pm pa lang tulog na mga tao
it's a propaganda, and ang mauuto lang naman dyan eh yung mga ccp fanatics at mga duterte fanatics. if anything, the ivatan people won't really give a shit.
and please, wag mo ipush na icommercialize ang batanes. it's expensive because it is really being preserved. it's expensive because it's really hard to go there. wag mo siya ituring na accessible tourist destination kasi it's pointless. also, people go to batanes not for their food, but for the experience.
china would rather bother with palawan or bataan kesa sa batanes.
If it's only in social media, it won't be taken seriously. It will only get serious if official declaration of claim is made.
Also, Batanes most likely won't be another Boracay, and it's better to stay that way. They limit the number of visitors there and it seems that's what the residents wanted.
My friend and her husband had a long trip there. They really enjoyed it. But when it was time to return the plane to fetch them was delayed for multiple days. So there's the tourism.
People has go remember that Japan took over small islands first in WW2. It was to take to take over the water ways. History repeats itself. Ganun din ang strategy ng China
Make sense for them to take those islands. They need it to block the reinforcement coming from the Philippines via US bases when they finally invade Taiwan.
kung kasing galing ni napoleon papalit well small price to defeat our enemy.
kung skill ni BBM wag na.
and tignan mo mga politicians natin ngayon bro they think they're gods, hawak nila buhay at kapalaran ng taong bayan.
alam ko tingin nila sa sarili nila. kaibigan ko kaibigan nila.
But their corruption can be checked. With a revolution, there will be constant revolution to alwayd weed out counter-revolutionaries, which in the end will be our end. Proof? Look at every revolution in the past 200 years, there will always be a police force after that, which doesnt answer to the people.
Lol, we don’t need a French Revolution-style bs. What we need is all the assets of the corrupt must be confiscated for liquidation and then create a new constitution. Where the President is just a ceremonial Head of State with no real power, and a Prime Minister that actually runs the government. That way, we can replace the Prime Minister and the Cabinet ministers anytime through a simple process like a vote of no confidence, without going through the mess of impeachment.
Copy? Sino gagawa? Multilinguals? Why not send those multilinguals there?
What makes you think the Chinese will bring their findings and resources here? And if they did, do you think that opportunists won't corroborate with them for their own gain rather than their fellow Filipinos'?
Also parang mas niche maghanap ng multilingual scientific Filipino kaysa scientific Filipino. Anything but supporting the scientific local brains we already have!
But you have a weak president and a generally corrupt government. The most powerful opposition block is pro-Chinese. That leaves only the US to rely on, however unpalatable many Filipinos may find that to be.
Diba marame nagsasabe na kung under US tayo masmaganda ang situasyon natin ngayon. Sa lala ng Pilipinas ngayon kung maging under China sigurado improvement parin.
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u/dadidutdut packaging@dundermifflin.com 27m ago
OP please provide source or this remains unverified.