Beware of Chinese ‘lies’ claiming Palawan – PH maritime council

INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — The National Maritime Council (NMC) on Thursday said a social media post claiming that Palawan belonged to China was “another form of disinformation” that should be debunked and rejected to prevent both Chinese and Filipinos from being fooled into believing it.

The NMC’s reaction was triggered by a March 4 Newsweek report about the post that was shared on the TikTok-like app Rednote (Xiaohongshu) and other Chinese social media platforms.

“This is just another form of disinformation,” said NMC spokesperson Undersecretary Alexander Lopez.

“This is part of their so-called ‘cognitive warfare’ wherein they (the Chinese) are trying to shape the minds of the people—internal audience, external audience—so that the opinion would shift in their favor,” he said.

“Then those unaware would say, ‘ah, that may be right.’ So we need to debunk these lies, actually, these discourses,” Lopez added.

READ: West PH Sea: Navy slams ‘absurd, baseless’ China social media claim on Palawan

Demand for ‘return’

Beijing, which vigilantly monitors Chinese social media, has not officially spoken about the claim, which included a demand for Palawan’s “return” to China. The Chinese Embassy in Manila has not responded to the Inquirer’s request for comment.

The claim has since been accompanied by a map showing China’s dash lines edging closer to the west coasts of Negros and Panay islands and Zamboanga del Norte. The line forms an image that appears to scoop up most of the Sulu Sea and Palawan.

Palawan, a front-line province in the maritime dispute between the Philippines and Beijing, was supposedly originally called “Zheng He Island” after a 14th-century Chinese explorer.

READ: Gov’t urged to increase patrols in WPS after China’s claim on Palawan

No historical basis

But Lopez said there has been no historical account that Zheng had set foot on Palawan.

“It has to be very clear that while it is true that a certain Admiral Zheng visited Southeast Asia in the 15th and 14th [centuries], there is no historical record that he visited Palawan,” he said on the government television program “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.”

But even if the explorer had visited Palawan, it does not make the province part of China’s territory, Lopez said.

“It has to be very clear: Palawan has been, is and will always be part of the Philippine territory; there’s no debate here,” he said.

The July 2016 arbitral tribunal award nullified China’s sweeping claims to nearly the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.

The tribunal said Beijing’s historical claims had no legal basis. China continues to reject the ruling.