In response to claims by Chinese scholars that there is 'anthropological evidence' supporting that the northernmost Philippine Batanes Islands belong to China, Filipino anthropologists have refuted the assertion, bluntly stating that it is 'politically motivated.' As a nation, China did not even exist 5,000 years ago—so on what grounds can it claim a linguistic region that was already inhabited before its own emergence?
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported on the 13th that Wang Yuanyuan, an associate researcher at the South China Sea Institute of South China Sea Historical and Cultural Studies, recently argued that anthropological evidence shows the approximately 10,000 Ivatan people living in the Batanes Islands are linguistically related to, and share customs with, the Tao people of Taiwan’s Orchid Island—including underground dwellings—which proves Batanes is a subsidiary of Taiwan, and thus, its sovereignty belongs to China.
Chinese state media Global Times cited Wang Yuanyuan’s opinion, stating that Filipino anthropologists’ research in 2023 confirmed that elderly residents of the Batanes Islands still speak Tao, which is 'ironclad evidence' that their ancestors migrated from Taiwan about three to four thousand years ago.
In response, Nestor Castro, a cultural anthropologist specializing in indigenous issues and cultural heritage, refuted the interpretation. He criticized Wang Yuanyuan for distorting established findings in anthropology, linguistics, and history; both the Tao (of Taiwan's Orchid Island) and the Ivatan language belong to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages. While Taiwan’s indigenous languages also belong to the Austronesian family, they're classified as another independent branch, the 'Formosan languages,' indicating that Tao is actually more linguistically related to other Malayo-Polynesian languages—including nearly all Philippine languages, as well as those spoken in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and even Madagascar in Africa.
He emphasized: 'If we follow China’s logic, based on close linguistic and cultural ties, the Philippines would in fact have even stronger legal grounds to claim sovereignty over Orchid Island.'
● Filipino Scholar: Austronesians Arrived in Taiwan 5,000–6,000 Years Ago
Additionally, Castro stressed that Austronesian-speaking peoples arrived in Taiwan about five to six thousand years ago and reached the Philippines about 4,200 to 5,000 years ago: 'Are these Austronesian peoples Chinese?' Taiwan itself has never asserted sovereignty over the Batanes Islands, 'Therefore, simply because China claims Taiwanese sovereignty, claiming the Batanes as well is completely illogical.' (Source: Liberty Times)