China is widening its maritime reach beyond its discredited 10-dash line after a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel was spotted patrolling the waters east of Batanes, the objective of which is being linked to the superpower’s containment of Taiwan.

Under the One China policy, Taiwan is considered a province of China, yet it considers itself an independent country.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague ruled that China’s nine-dash line claim had no basis in international law. China said it did not recognize the international tribunal’s award and responded by expanding its claim to a 10-dash line.

Beijing’s recent maritime activity raised concerns that it is extending its influence beyond the usual flashpoints in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

Maritime security expert Ray Powell, founder of the maritime transparency initiative SeaLight, said his group has been tracking CCG patrols in the area since early June going beyond the limits of Beijing’s ten-dash line.

“That’s happening right now. There’s a China Coast Guard ship out there right now patrolling the waters east of Batanes,” Powell said in an interview Wednesday on DAILY TRIBUNE’s Straight Talk program.

He linked the patrols to recent claims made by Chinese universities about Batanes, which he said could provide Beijing with a narrative to justify its presence in the waters east of the northern Philippine islands.

“What they’re trying to do is to justify why they should be patrolling not just in the West Philippine Sea but in the Philippine Sea east of Batanes,” Powell said.

Powell, however, emphasized he does not believe Beijing intends to invade or blockade Batanes, saying its greater concern is how it can use its claim to support an expanded maritime presence.

“I don’t think they plan to invade Batanes. I don’t think they intend to blockade Batanes, but they’re using the claim to Batanes to justify why they should own the water east of Batanes,” he said.

Batanes lies between Taiwan and northern Luzon and within the Bashi Channel, a critical deep-water chokepoint linking the South China Sea to the western Pacific and part of the “First Island Chain.”

The First Island Chain is a key geopolitical and military concept describing a string of major archipelagos that form a natural barrier enclosing the East China Sea and South China Sea, running roughly from the Japanese home islands southward through the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, the northern Philippines and continuing toward Borneo or the Malay Peninsula.

In late June 2026, scholars at a Jinan University symposium in Guangzhou that included figures from institutions linked to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and others argued that Batanes (especially the Batan Islands) form a “natural geographical extension” of Taiwan.

They cited its proximity and claimed its historical administration under the Ming and Qing dynasties via Taiwan; the cultural and linguistic ties between the Ivatan people of Batanes and the Tao (Yami) people of Lanyu; and selective readings of colonial treaties to assert that the islands fall under Chinese sovereignty because Beijing claims Taiwan.

While the scholarly claims are not official policy, they reflect a strategic interest driven by geography and Taiwan contingencies. Batanes’ location makes it a natural focus for both Chinese power projection and Philippine and US deterrence efforts.

Scarborough ‘exclusion zone’

Powell also raised concerns over Chinese activity around Scarborough Shoal, where he said SeaLight has observed an extensive CCG presence over the past two years.

“They have basically created what we tend to refer to as an exclusion zone around the shoal,” he said.

According to the maritime expert, the effects are no longer limited to Philippine vessels, as ship-tracking data showed even cargo vessels flagged by third countries are taking wider routes around the area.

“In fact, I was just looking at the ship tracking this morning and noticed that even third country-flagged cargo ships take a wide berth; they actually go around Scarborough Shoal, around this exclusion zone,” he said.

Powell said the situation could have broader implications for navigation in the area.