Filipino anthropologist slams Chinese scholar's narrative over Batanes

TUGUEGARAO CITY - A Filipino anthropologist is questioning the inaccurate and false narratives of a Chinese scholar who suggested that that Batanes belongs to China through Taiwan.Dr. Nestor Castro, a cultural anthropologist on indigenous peoples' issues and cultural heritage based in Pasig City, said in a July 12 social media post that the language of the Lanyu (Orchid Island) people and the Ivatan language are all members of the Western Malayo-Polynesian (WMP) subfamily of the Austronesian family of languages. This runs contrast to the claim of Chinese anthropologist Wang Yuanyuan that the more than 10,000 Ivatan residents of Batanes share linguistic and cultural links with the Tao people of Lanyu and that their cultural heritage originated from China."Is this Wang Yuanyuan really an anthropologist or just a pretender? It would be more appropriate to call him a political operator of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)," Castro said.Castro clarified the languages of mainland China are not Austronesian."Although the indigenous languages of the island of Formosa (Taiwan) are also included in the Austronesian family, they are in a separate sub-family called Formosan. They are not included in the WMP," he said. "Therefore, the language of the Lanyu People is more similar to the languages of other Western Malayo-Polynesian languages, such as all the languages spoken in the Philippines (except Chavacano) as well as in Malaysia, many islands of Indonesia, Champa in Vietnam, and Madagascar in Africa," he added.Castro also said that Philippines have a better right to claim Lanyu because of its similarity to the language and culture of the Filipinos.He noted that the geographical spread of Austronesian languages in the world does not include China while Lanyu language is included in the scope of Western Malayo-Polynesian languages like the languages in the Philippines.Earlier, Yuanyuan claimed in an academic symposium held at Jinan University in China that 'anthropological evidence confirms that the roughly 10,000 Ivatan residents of Batanes share cognate languages, analogous customs and identical underground dwellings with the Tao people of the Orchid Island of the Taiwan region."Yuanyuan also said that surveys conducted by Filipino anthropologists in 2023 verified that the elderly inhabitants of Batanes still speak the Tao language - irrefutable proof that their ancestors migrated from the Taiwan region some three to four millennia ago, citing Global Times in its issue on July 9, 2026. Castro refuted Yuanyuan's claim because Austronesian-speaking peoples arrived in Taiwan 5,000 to 6,000 years ago and they arrived in the Philippines 4200 to 5000 years ago."Are Austronesians Chinese? No! In fact, there was no country of China 5,000 years ago. Why would China claim linguistic territories that were there before the birth of the country of China," he added.Castro also said that Lanyu people call themselves 'Tao,' which means people but not "Han" or Chinese. "They are not Chinese. We Filipinos also call ourselves 'Tao' (or tawo in other languages). Therefore, we are more similar to the Lanyu People. We are also people. We are not animals, not things, and especially not Chinese," he said.The Filipino anthropologist also clarified that Taiwan does not claim Batanes. "Taiwan is an independent country that has never been subject to the People's Republic of China. It is not logical for China to claim Batanes just because they also claim Taiwan," he added.