PHL rebuffs China over Reed Bank oil exploration

Manila on Monday ignored the opposition raised by Beijing to an ongoing offshore energy exploration project in the Reed Bank off Philippine western waters, which China is claiming as part of its territory.

 

Manila had long dismissed China’s assertion over the area, locally known as Recto Bank, saying it is not part of the disputed features in the South China Sea.

 

“In accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Philippines has the exclusive sovereign rights over the Reed bank. No other state is lawfully entitled to assert sovereignty or sovereign rights over the said area,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said in a press briefing.

 

The UN treaty, known as UNCLOS, is a 1982 accord signed by 163 countries, including the Philippines and China, that aims to govern the use of offshore areas and sets territorial limits of coastal states.

 

Disregarding China’s call to cease all Philippine operations in the area, the Philippines maintained that “Reed Bank is a completely submerged bank that is part of the continental margin of Palawan.”

 

“Recto Bank or Reed Bank is not an island, rock or low tide elevation. Accordingly, Reed Bank which is about 85 nautical miles from the nearest coast of Palawan and about 595 nautical miles from the coast of (China's) Hainan (province) forms part of the 200 nautical mile continental shelf of the Philippine archipelago under UNCLOS,” Jose said.

 

The Philippine Energy Department last week announced that it has extended to August 2016 the service contract of British company Forum Energy and its Filipino partner Philex Petroleum to complete its second sub-phased drilling in the area.

 

China opposed the move, insisting “oil and gas exploration by any foreign companies in waters under China's jurisdiction is illegal and invalid.”

 

China says it has indisputable sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea, of which a portion that is well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone was renamed West Philippine Sea by the Philippine government.

 

Manila called China’s assertion illegal and excessive and has filed a case before a UN-linked tribunal to try to invalidate the massive Chinese claim.

 

Apart from the Reed Bank, Beijing is also asserting ownership over two areas – Area 3 and Area 4 – located 80 kilometers northwest of Palawan, insisting these are part of its territories in the South China Sea.

 

Scientific data show that the South China Sea contains vast deposits of oil and natural gas.

 

The area around Recto Bank alone has an estimated 16.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to last for a century, according to the Department of Energy.    

 

Competing claims to the sea by the Philippines, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan, have sparked occasional violence.

 

Analysts now regard the South China Sea, a busy shipping lane where a bulk of the world's trade pass, as a potential regional flashpoint for armed conflict.  – VS, GMA News