To say that the most active countries around our country, in addition to Japan and South Korea, the Philippines is definitely the third. The Philippines and Taiwan Province of China face each other across the sea, and the passage is the Bass Strait.
Located between Taiwan Province and Luzon Island, the Bass Strait is a natural dividing line between the Pacific and South China Seas. And in this position, there is an island of Batanes that has deep ties to our country.
So, here's the problem. Has the Batanes Islands ever been under Chinese jurisdiction?
The demarcation between China and the Philippines has not been divided, and the sovereignty of the Batanes Islands is disputed.
Bataan Island is a Filipino-occupied island in the Bass Strait, which is the closest island in the Philippines to Taiwan Province. Ancient Chinese books refer to this place as the country of three islands or three islands. This island is closer to our country and a little farther away from the Philippines. There are about 50 islands in the archipelago.
The strategic location of Bataan Island is very important. Because Bataan is located in the Bass Strait**, it is the main shipping route for maritime shipping from the South China Sea to the western Pacific Ocean. This is important for countries such as the United States, Japan, and South Korea. And the Chinese Navy can also pass from here.
According to historical records, three or four thousand years ago, the ancestors of the Batanes Islands crossed the Bass Strait and migrated here from the island of Taiwan. That is, the Yamei tribe in the current Gaoshan clan, they can also be regarded as descendants of Yan Huang. The relationship between the Batanes Islands and the mainland has always been very close. During the Three Kingdoms and even the Tang Dynasty, there were already Chinese ancestors who left footprints in the Batanes Islands. There are 14 islands, all of which have Chinese cultural relics. It can be said that the Chinese were the first to develop the Batanes. The residents of the island can speak the same language as the Dawu people of Orchid Island, Taitung, Taiwan Province.
During the Qing Dynasty, the island of Taiwan was under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province, so it was considered an overseas territory of the Taiwan Government of Fujian Province. However, in 1895, the Qing Dynasty lost the Sino-Japanese War to Japan and ceded Taiwan and other places to Japan. At that time, the Philippines was only a Spanish colony.
There is also evidence of this, and that is the Spanish-American War.
In 1521, the explorer and robber Magellan led a Spanish expedition to the Philippine Islands. After that, Spain gradually invaded the Philippines and ruled it for more than 300 years. At the end of the 19th century, the United States leapt to the top of the world in terms of economic power. The United States wanted to re-divide the world's colonies, but due to its limited strength, it could only challenge Spain, so the Spanish-American War broke out. The United States defeated Spain and took over the Philippine archipelago in its entirety.
In the Paris Treaty of December 1898, the Philippines became an American colony. South of 20 degrees north latitude is designated as the United States, and north of 20 degrees north latitude is designated as a subsidiary island reef of the island of Taiwan, and the Batanes Islands are not included, which means that the United States and Japan tacitly belong to China. But since the Manchu Qing Dynasty had already declined, it could not even control Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands, and it was even more out of reach here.
After Japan's defeat in 1945, the Batanes Islands were supposed to be under the jurisdiction of China, which was restored to its sovereign state. But due to Mr. Chiang's incompetence and weakness, it was not withdrawn. After the outbreak of the Civil War and the Korean War, China failed to station troops in the Batanes Islands, and was occupied by the Philippines to this day.
According to Japan's "Fisheries Law" promulgated in 1930, Taiwanese fishermen can fish in the waters near Bataan Island, indicating that the local area has long been Taiwanese fishermen's property, just like the Diaoyu Islands"Traditional fishing grounds"A number of important historical documents prove that the sovereignty of the Batanes Islands is still a territorial dispute"Historical unsolved"。
Since the Philippines seceded from the United States, it has tightly controlled the Bass Strait. The biggest problem is that we have not demarcated the jurisdiction of the Bass Strait with the Philippines. This has led to frequent Philippine military seizures of fishermen in Taiwan Province, leading to diplomatic conflicts.
If it is determined that the sovereignty of the Batanes Islands belongs to China, then the demarcation of the territorial sea baselines and economic waters between China and the Philippines will be completely different.
I remember that in 1987, when the Philippines visited China, he said when talking about the Nansha issue: "At least geographically, those islands are closer to the Philippines. Old Man Deng took a puff of his cigarette: "Geographically, the Philippines is also very close to China. "The bright sword is worth doing.