Less than 200km south of Taiwan, Batanes is the Philippines' northernmost province. Growing maritime tensions with China and Manila's deepening defence ties with the US and Japan are drawing fresh attention to the strategically located island chain.

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A maritime confrontation near a remote Philippine island chain in early October has drawn fresh attention to an emerging pressure point between Beijing and Manila, this time on Taiwan’s doorstep.

Batanes, the Philippines’ northernmost province, is gaining strategic prominence amid China’s growing concerns over Manila’s deepening defence ties with the United States and Japan, and its potential role in a conflict over Taiwan, analysts say.

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“Closer cooperation [between Philippines and its partner countries U.S. and Japan] complicates Beijing’s calculations. It makes it harder to assume that Taiwan could be isolated without other countries becoming involved,” Felix Brender, [a Hou Family Postdoctoral Fellow in Taiwan Studies at Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies] said.

Ian Seow [a senior analyst in the China Programme at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), a Singapore think-tank] said Japan’s growing military involvement was a complicating factor for China, particularly after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November 2025 that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could threaten Japan’s security.

“These developments could add to Beijing’s concerns about the possibility of Japan supporting US military operations in a Taiwan contingency,” he said.

Tensions have also surfaced over maritime boundaries.

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