Bashi haikiap e tosu kam long si Huilitpin e ? lan e chu-i mai kanna khoaN Tiongkok e bunte, haikiap lionghoaN koh u Huilitpin !!

<http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/09/23/2003204030>
Bashi Strait: a lesson in geography

By Chen Hurng-yu 曈暾餌

Thursday, Sep 23, 2004,Page 8 

There are two groups of islands between Taiwan and Luzon Island in the Philipp
ines. The Batan, or the Batanese, Islands, are located close to Taiwan at a di
stance of 190km, and the Babuyan Islands are located close to Luzon Island. Th
e Batan Islands are comprised of 10 small islands, the largest being Itbayat, 
followed by Batan Island.
The Batan Islands cover an area of 210km2. Research has shown that the people 
living on the islands have unique traits. They say they belong to the Ivatan p
eople, and the local language is also called Ivatan. According to one explanat
ion, this people may have migrated from Taiwan and later mixed with the Spanis
h colonizers living there.

Because the Batan Islands are located near Taiwan, Taiwanese fishermen have tr
aditionally fished in the area around the islands. As a result of regular cont
act, some Taiwanese fishermen have taken up residence on the islands, and ther
e have been marriages with the local population, which has led to some locals 
understanding some Hoklo, commonly known as Taiwanese.

After the Spanish were defeated by the US in 1898, one of the conditions of th
e peace treaty was that Spain cede the Philippines to the US. But a close read
ing of the US-Spanish Treaty of Paris is surprising: the northernmost part of 
the Philippine territory ceded by Spain to the US ends at the 20th parallel, o
r south of the Balintang Channel. This means that the Batan Islands fall outsi
de the scope of the peace treaty.

What does this mean? Was it a measurement mistake? Or was it due to other reas
ons?

To deal with these questions, we have to go back to 1895 and the maritime bord
er agreement signed by Spain and Japan.

On Aug. 7, 1895, during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, Japan and Spain sig
ned an agreement delineating the borders of Taiwan and the Philippines. The ag
reement defined "the middle of the navigable channel of Bashi parallel to the 
latitude as the Western Pacific border between Japan and Spain." 

Because the agreement did not define borders in terms of latitude and longitud
e, and because there was no definition of what was meant by the Bashi Strait, 
the unclear geographical scope created problems in later talks between the US 
and Spain.

In June 1896, war broke out between the US and Spain. The US defeated the Span
ish fleet in the Bay of Manila, thereby winning the war. Representatives of th
e US and Spain reached an agreement on Nov. 28, but did not reveal the content
s. A newspaper therefore guessed at the scope of Philippine territory demanded
 by the US, writing: "It is believed that the definition of the limits of the 
Philippine group in the American demands will be as follows: From 5? 32' north
 latitude to 19? 38' north latitude, and from 117? east longitude to 126? east
 longitude, thus covering about 1,000 miles north and south and 600 miles east
 and west."

This report shows that the most northerly point of the Philippine group of isl
ands as agreed to by Spain and accepted by the US was south of the 20th parall
el. This rumor was later verified by the official agreement.

The US and Spain then signed a peace treaty in Paris on Dec.10, 1898. Article 
3 of the treaty specifies that Spain should cede the Philippine islands it occ
upied to the US, as defined in terms of longitude and latitude. The text of Ar
ticle 3 reads: "Spain hereby cedes to the United States the archipelago known 
as the Philippines Islands, and comprehending the islands lying within the fol
lowing line: A line running from West to East along or near the Twentieth (20t
h) parallel of North latitude, and through the middle of the navigable channel
 of Bashi, from the one hundred and eighteenth (118th) to the one hundred and 
twenty-seventh (127th) degree meridian of longitude East of Greenwich, thence 
along the one hundred and twenty-seventh (127th) degree meridian of longitude 
East of Greenwich to the ..."

In 1895, Spain had not defined "the middle of the navigable channel of Bashi."
 The negotiations between Spain and the US in 1898 clearly specified that it w
as located on the "20th parallel of the North latitude" and officially recogni
zed that the islands north of this line belonged to Japan. Spain's representat
ives during the negotiations insisted that the US' representatives only could 
take possession of the islands south of the 20th parallel. This was accepted b
y the US and the border was set at the 20th parallel.

Regardless of how the Bashi Strait is defined, Spain said during the negotiati
ons with the US that it could not cede to the US islands that did not belong t
o Spain. They insisted that the border be drawn along the 20th parallel. It is
 also important to recognize that when Spain and the US signed the peace treat
y in Paris, Spain respected the regulations of the 1895 agreement between Spai
n and Japan.

Furthermore, how is "the middle of the navigable channel of Bashi" related to 
the 20th parallel? As the Spanish negotiator at the time understood it, the Ba
shi Strait is the strait stretching from Taiwan to Luzon Island, which places 
the middle along the 20th parallel. The Spanish representative opposed the US 
representative's position that the area south of 21 degrees 30 minutes north l
atitude should be ceded to the US.

Following navigation practice at the time, there were two navigable lanes in t
he Bashi Strait: one was the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Batan Island
s, and the other was the Balintang Channel between the Batan Islands and the B
abuyan Islands. At the time -- 1895 to 1898 -- the Bashi Channel was not the n
avigable sea lane normally used. Ships at the time were not as powerful, so bo
ats and ships traveling to Taiwan or Japan would normally go through the Balin
tang Channel when passing west of Luzon. After reaching the Pacific, they woul
d turn north and aim for the south of Taiwan or directly for Japan.

This sea lane follows the Japan Current, and was probably the main sea lane at
 the time. This is the case in sea lane charts in many books from that time. B
oats would not cross the Balintang Channel into the Bashi Channel only to then
 cross the Bashi Channel to reach the Pacific, because such a route would enco
unter a powerful counter-current branching off the Japan Current which flows f
rom the east to the west, making it an inappropriate route.

Based on this, Spain probably conducted its negotiations with both Japan and t
he US based on the contemporary understanding of what constituted the navigabl
e sea lane: "the middle of the navigable channel of Bashi" was the channel alo
ng the 20th parallel, which today is called the Balintang Channel.

In a letter to US Secretary of State John Hay on Jan. 12, 1899, John Bassett M
oore, legal council to the US negotiation delegation, wrote that he believed t
he dispute regarding the Batan Islands located north of the 20th parallel coul
d be discussed with Japan and resolved by reaching an agreement. The US govern
ment did not accept Moore's suggestion, and on Jan. 10, 1900, it sent troops t
o occupy the Batan Islands.

Was that a rightful occupation? As explained above, the Batan Islands were not
 "no man's land," but should be considered as belong to Japan which, however, 
never had occupied them. It seems the US thus had no right to occupy them base
d on the claim that the islands were no man's land. The US occupation was tant
amount to invasion.

By unilaterally extending Philippine territory from the 20th parallel to the 2
1st parallel without prior negotiations with Taiwan, the "Republic Act No. 304
6: Act to define the baseline of the territorial sea of the Philippines" promu
lgated by the Philippine government on June 17, 1961 clearly conflicted with t
he Treaty of Paris between the US and Spain.

Regardless, from the perspective of international law, the arrangement concern
ing the Batan Islands set up by the US and Spain in treaty form in 1898 confir
med that the islands were part of the territory of Taiwan, which at the time w
as under Japanese control. An international treaty should hold more binding po
wer than the unclear 1895 agreement between Spain and Japan.

The Philippines' unilateral action in 1961 cannot invalidate the 1898 Paris Tr
eaty between the US and Spain, because that treaty involves the territory of a
 third party. The Philippines cannot unilaterally define its northern border w
ithout consultations with that third party. From a juridical perspective, the 
legitimacy of the Philippine occupation of the Batan Islands is questionable.


Chen Hurng-yu is a professor of history at National Chengchi University.

Translated by Perry Svensson 

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