This is not about closing our doors to genuine educational cooperation. It is about protecting our institutions from weaponized influence.
The recent SeaLight investigation by Ray Powell connects the dots for us: Jinan University in Guangdong — the same institution whose “Center for Philippine Studies” hosted the symposium claiming Batanes belongs to China — is also the single largest training destination for Chinese-language teachers working in Philippine schools. Chinese Communist Party-backed United Front groups have positioned themselves as the main brokers structuring teacher training, testing, and curriculum for Chinese-language education in our country. Taiwan has already banned exchanges with Jinan University for precisely these reasons.
Let that sink in: the university manufacturing a fabricated sovereignty claim over Philippine territory is simultaneously shaping what is taught in Philippine classrooms.
This is the gray zone in its fullest form. The same playbook we confront at sea — coercion disguised as routine, aggression framed as law enforcement — operates on land through narratives disguised as scholarship and influence disguised as cultural exchange. Water cannons target our vessels; disinformation targets our minds. Both are assaults on our sovereignty.
