JOINT OIL EXPLORATION EYED IN DISPUTED SEA
The Philippines and China will jointly explore the disputed South China Sea for oil and gas, President Rodrigo Duterte revealed on the sidelines of his second State of the Nation Address (Sona) Monday.
He said both countries are ready, but have yet to set a timeline.
“There is no (timeline) yet but we are into it already. We are there already. We already have a partner but I don’t know who. Our emisaries, as well as theirs, are already there. They are talking and they are exploring,” Duterte said.
“When they start to excavate the gas and all, I tell you, it’s going to be just like a joint venture. So it will be fair,” he added.
Duterte, who has been par- tial to China and antagonistic towards the US, is maintaining a “non-adversarial” approach to the territorial dispute despite a 2016 ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration that invalidated China’s massive territorial claims in the South China Sea under a 1982 U.N. maritime treaty.
Duterte recalled how, during a visit to Beijing last year, he told Chinese President Xi Jinping that the Philippines would drill for oil in disputed areas it asserts as its own.
Xi responded that such an action would spark an armed confrontation, he added.
“I’m not prepared to go to war. I have to be frank. The truth is, I will not. It will end up a slaughter to my forces. We do not have enough resources. They have the state-of-the-art and eveything,” Duterte said.
Aiming to turn around the Philippines’ frosty relations with China, Duterte has refused to demand immediate Chinese compliance with the Hague ruling.
He promised he would take it up with Beijing at some point. Confronting China, which has dismissed the ruling as a sham, risks sparking an armed conflict that the Philippines would surely lose, Duterte contended.
Nationalists and critics blasted Duterte for what they see as a sellout to China. After the Xi meeting, China allowed Filipino fishermen to return to Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal, where Chinese coast guard ships drove Filipinos away in 2012.
Jose de Venecia Jr., special envoy to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, had proposed that the administration enter into a joint oil and gas exploration in the Spratly Islands.
During his address to the nation, Duterte insisted that his administration would maintain “warmer” relations with China.
“We have cultivated warmer relations with China through bilateral dialogues and other mechanisms, leading to easing of tensions between the two countries and improved negotiating environment on the West Philippine Sea,” the President said.