How should we interpret Chinese social media posts claiming that 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 and should therefore be “returned” to China?
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.
For National Maritime Council spokesperson, Undersecretary Alexander Lopez: “This is just another form of disinformation…This is part of their so-called ‘cognitive warfare’ wherein they are trying to shape the minds of the people—internal audience, external audience—so that the opinion would shift in their favor.”
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.”
Beijing, which closely 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 also kept mum on the issue so it would not unduly add fuel to the fire amid the tense standoff in the West Philippine Sea where we have our exclusive economic zone, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS.
The Philippine Navy, through its spokesman, Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, has also described the Chinese social media claim that the island of Palawan used to belong to China as “baseless” and “totally absurd”. He noted that such false claims are part of attacks in the information domain.
This latest round of disinformation from Chinese social media appears to be part and parcel of a comprehensive effort to undermine our national sovereignty and territorial integrity through various means, one aspect of which is the use of brute force, such as harassment of our fisherfork as well as Navy and Coast Guard vessels through deliberate ramming, use of military-grade lasers and water cannons.
Another disturbing development is the insistence by Beijing on their claim of ownership of practically the entire South China on the basis of the fake ‘ten-dash line’, the involvement of Chinese nationals in criminal activities in the now-banned Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, surveillance activities by Chinese nationals in military installations and government offices using sophisticated data-gathering devices, and even supposedly humanitarian donations by Chinese nationals to local government units.
All this could indicate a ‘whole-of-government’ approach by Beijing to pull the wool over our eyes and convince us that resistance to their military build-up for expansionist designs in this part of the world is futile and we have no choice but to accept the reality that they are an emerging superpower with the resources and the resolve to eventually dominate this part of the world.