AFP to China: Do you uphold, reject Batanes claim?

ARMED Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Tuesday categorically denied claims that Batanes is an extension of Taiwan and urged both the Chinese Embassy and China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to clarify whether they endorse or reject the scholars' statements. Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, AFP spokesman for the West Philippines Sea (WPS) stressed the importance of issuing a strong pushback from the Chinese government itself to clarify their position as silence eventually leads such such statements to become an official party stand. "It is very important that statements like this should be answered not only by the embassy but by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kung talagang wala silang kinalaman dyan. This is one attempt to desensitize the international community. Without any pushback, it will soon become the stand of the Chinese Communist Party," Trinidad told reporters in a briefing at Camp Aguinaldo.