Manila, July 10 -- Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro on Friday dismissed claims by supposed Chinese scholars saying Batanes is part of China through Taiwan, adding that the Philippines only listens to official positions of a government.

"[T]he academics really- well, they are academics... We only listen to government. So that's only what we can say," she said in an interview on the sidelines of a conference commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Arbitral Award in the South China Sea.

Earlier, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippines' sovereignty over Batanes is not up for debate and that the country would not entertain any revisionist claims over its territory.

A news report by Guangdong-based me...