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

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Navy on Tuesday called “baseless” and “totally absurd” false claims on Chinese social media that the island of Palawan used to belong to China.

Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, the Navy 's spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea, made the reaction after the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) revealed that a post in Chinese social media platform Rednote falsely claimed that Palawan was once Chinese territory.

The post even stated that the Philippines should return Palawan to China, claiming that its original name was  “Zheng He Island,” after the famous 14th century Chinese explorer.




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

“Such statements about Palawan are baseless,” Trinidad said in a regular Armed Forces of the Philippines press briefing. “They are bereft of legal references. In short, totally absurd.”

Trinidad noted that such false claims are part of the “attacks in the information domain.”

“In an authoritarian state where social media and freedom of expression is regulated by the government, everything is possible.

On Friday, the NCHP said: “Historical fact clearly and convincingly shows that the Philippines and its predecessor state actors have always exercised sovereignty over our archipelago and over Palawan in particular.”

“No other state contests this fact,” the commission said in a statement. “Not one.”

“Palawan is and will always be Filipino,” the NHCP said.

READ: Palawan was never part of China – NHCP

Such claims in the Chinese social media were made amid the continuous tensions between Manila and Beijing in the West Philippine Sea, the body of water inside of the country’s exclusive economic zone west of Palawan.

Beijing asserts sovereignty in almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the West Philippine Sea.

In 2012, Manila and Beijing had a tense standoff over Panatag Shoal, with the former withdrawing its ships from the shoal that led to the latter having an effective control of its lagoon to date.

A year later, Manila lodged an arbitration case against Beijing after this standoff, which led to a historic 2016 arbitral award that effectively rejected the latter’s sweeping claims in the West Philippine Sea through its nine-dash line, now ten-dash-line after the inclusion of another line in the eastern section of Taiwan in 2023.

It included in its baseless ten-dash-line the areas of Kalayaan Island Group, where the Kalayaan municipality of Palawan is located.

(2025/03/04-15:57)