Philippines eyes other options to explore energy resources in contested waters

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - Months after ending talks with Beijing over joint oil and gas exploration in the disputed South China Sea, the Philippine president has suggested exploring “other ways” to ensure the immediate development of energy resources in the contested waters.

“We’ll have to find a way … we really need it now. We already need whatever resources we could find because the Philippines really need that now,” a transcript of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s chat with journalists read.

He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Quezon city, northeast of the capital Manila, on Thursday.

In 2018, Manila and Beijing signed a deal to explore oil and gas reserves in the South China Sea, a hotspot of conflicting territorial claims by several countries besides China and the Philippines. Others are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Taiwan, which Beijing says is a part of China, is also a claimant.

The deal came two years after Manila won a case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague that invalidated Beijing's expansive claims over the sea rich in maritime resources.

In June, Philippines Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Manila terminated talks with Beijing on energy exploration in the South China Sea.

Locsin argued that the decision was taken on then President Rodrigo Duterte’s orders, emphasizing that “everything is over” with respect to negotiations on energy exploration.

Marcos won the presidential election in May, but took over the administration from Duterte in July.

“I think there might be other ways so it won’t be G2G (government to government) … It’s a small thing for China. But for us, it’s a big help. So, we have to pursue that and we will benefit if there is really oil there,” Marcos said about exploring oil and gas in the West Philippines Sea (WPS).

But he insisted on addressing the “roadblock” in the joint exploration talks with China.

“China is claiming [WPS] as its property, but that is ours. For the Philippines’ part, we have to follow the law. But the Chinese are saying that they own that and they want their own terms to be followed. That's the roadblock there,” said Marcos, who is expected to pay a state visit to Beijing early next year.

After Manila's decision to end talks with Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry had stressed on “joint oil and gas development between China and Philippines” as “the right way for the two to properly handle maritime differences for mutual benefit without compromising respective maritime positions.”

China’s assertions are based on its “nine-dash line” – purple dashes on official Chinese maps that denote Beijing’s historical claims over the South China Sea.

Marcos’ predecessor Duterte had claimed in 2019 that Chinese President Xi Jinping “offered the Philippines a controlling stake in a proposed joint energy venture in the WPS if it would set aside” the PCA ruling that went against Beijing.

Locsin, however, had later refuted such claims, saying: “China did not attach such a condition to the proposed joint exploration deal.”