Philippine Defence Secretary Urges Vigilance Over China-Linked Academic Exchanges Amid Batanes Controversy

The comments follow reports that language instructors in Manila were trained by a Chinese university at the heart of Batanes controversy. Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr has urged greater vigilance over academic exchange programmes with China following reports that language teachers in Manila had been trained by a Chinese university at the centre of a recent controversy over the Batanes Islands. Speaking in Manila on Wednesday, Teodoro cautioned that foreign-linked educational initiatives risked being exploited as conduits for grey-zone influence and state-sponsored disinformation. His remarks followed a report on Tuesday claiming that Guangzhou’s Jinan University, affiliated with the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), was the “single largest training site” for Chinese teachers entering Chinese-language schools in the Philippines. The findings published by SeaLight, a maritime transparency initiative, alleged that the university was closely tied to Beijing’s political influence network and that it played a central role alongside other party-backed organisations in shaping Chinese language education in the Philippines through teacher training, curriculum design, language testing and career placement. “The strongest evidence that there is a problem with this exchange is that it has produced the very institution that is spreading fake news,” he said, according to Philippine media, referring to Jinan University. The university drew ire from Manila last month after it held a symposium about the sovereignty of the Batanes Islands. During the forum, scholars argued that Beijing should assert sovereignty over the islands because they were a natural extension of Taiwan. The archipelago, located between Taiwan and the island of Luzon, is the northernmost and smallest Philippine province.