China shelves Recto gas talks

Philex Mining Corp. and China National Offshore Oil Co. Ltd. have temporarily shelved talks over the joint development of the gas-rich Recto Bank in South China Sea, an area claimed by both Manila and Beijing.

Philex Mining chairman Manuel Pangilinan said negotiations between the two companies had stopped and that there were no plans to revive the talks soon.

Philex Mining owns 64.45 percent of Forum Energy Plc, which holds a 70-percent interest in Service Contract 72, including Recto Bank.  CNOOC is an upstream oil and gas firm owned by the Chinese government.

“We have not heard from them in a few months… Well, I guess by default. There is no communication to that effect.  The communication just died down,” Pangilinan said.
He said there were no plans yet to revive the talks with CNOOC. “For a moment, there’s no plan. We are busy for some other matters,” he said.

Pangilinan earlier expressed hope about forging an agreement with CNOOC that would pave the way for exploratory drilling at SC 72, which covers an 8,800-square kilometer area west off Palawan. SC 72 is estimated to contain as much as 16.6 trillion cubic feet of gas and 416 million barrels of oil.

“We would hope to do that...reach a commercial basis to further exploratory and drilling work on the concession but further subject to approval of their government and our government,” Pangilinan said earlier.

Pangilinan also said having CNOOC as a partner could defuse the political tensions hounding SC 72.
“I cannot predict the political situation, but if, and if, that is a speculative if…They are a state-owned clearly identified with China, so I’m assuming the political aspects would recede in the background,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan said Forum was keen on developing SC 72, but security issues under the territorial dispute prevented them from doing so.

He said Forum wanted to conduct exploratory drilling “as soon as possible,” or once the security issues were addressed.

 Forum Energy’s work program called for the drilling of two exploratory wells until August 2015.
 “We are a Philippine contractor so we are bound by Philippine law so we cannot do that if we do not conform to Philippine laws. We have to recognize Philippine sovereignty,” Pangilinan said.
 

source:  Manila Standard Today

Intl support for PH in sea disputes ‘growing’

Malacañang on Tuesday said international support for the Philippines’ position on the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) is “growing” even beyond the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) where a code of conduct is being hammered out among claimant countries to settle the disputes.
“There are other international bodies that are providing support such as the European Union and the European community. So we will just continue to rely on expressions, manifestations and demonstrations of international solidarity,” said Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. on Tuesday.

He noted that besides the “willingness on the part of the affected member nations to concretely spell out the parameters for addressing the issues in the South China Sea or in the West Philippine Sea,” a US State Department statement calling on Beijing to “refrain from provocative actions in the South China Sea” was a welcome development.

“We are also rallying our people to be cognizant of the important national interest that is at stake,” Coloma added.

In the light of the US government’s statement of support, the Palace official said President Benigno Aquino 3rd and US President Barack Obama are most likely to discuss security issues at the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) during the latter’s visit in Manila later this month.

“Defense and security will definitely be a topic in the talks between President Aquino and President Obama. And when you talk of this topic, the most relevant issue that can be discussed would be the West Philippine Sea. So, it is entirely within the realm of possibility,” Coloma told a press briefing in Malacanang.

US State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf called on Beijing to “refrain from provocative actions in the South China Sea” following an incident near the disputed Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal) where Chinese coastguard ships tried to block a civilian ship from sending supplies to soldiers stationed there.

The State department official also described last Saturday’s incident as “destabilizing.”
“As a treaty ally of the Republic of the Philippines, the United States urges China to refrain from further provocative behavior by allowing the Philippines to continue to maintain its presence at Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin Shoal),” she said.

Besides the sea disputes, Coloma said the two leaders are also likely to tackle the planned rotational presence of American troops in Philippine military camps.

“There are other issues that will be tackled since what is involved here is strategic partnership between two countries,” the Palace official said.

Coloma also explained that there are several avenues for multilateral action, one of which is the Asean, where leaders have agreed to flesh out the decade-old declaration of the Code of Conduct.

Another avenue, he explained, is through arbitration as shown by the Philippines’ filing of a memorial before the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea.

“Our claims on the territories in the West Philippine Sea are sufficiently amplified and justified in our filing of the Memorial,” Coloma further said.

“We are doing what is needed. We are doing what we are capable of doing in terms of the actual conditions obtaining the West Philippine Sea,” he added.

Coloma stressed that all the steps the government has taken were “in consonance with the policy of pursuing our position in a peaceful and democratic manner while enjoining the international community to join cause with us in asserting the primacy of the rule of law.”

source:  Manila Times

Countering Beijing’s octopussy diplomacy

The recent brazen moves of Chinese maritime surveillance vessels operating over 1,100 kilometers from China’s coast to prevent Philippine civilian vessels from resupplying the tiny marine garrison aboard the BRP Sierra Madre beached on Ayungin Shoal, 200 km from Palawan, are steps in the execution of the so-called “cabbage strategy” articulated last year by Chinese General Major General Zhang Zhaozhong. The aim is to surround Bajo de Masinloc, Ayungin Shoal and other Philippine territories in Spratly Islands with a massive Chinese naval presence to starve Filipino detachments and prevent reinforcements from reaching them.

A cabbage is the wrong image for such a bellicose approach.  Perhaps it is time to call it what it really for is: an “octopus strategy” designed to strangle our forces island by island, reef by reef, till they drive us out of Pag-asa Island that is the strategic center of the municipality of Kalayaan of the province of Palawan.

With China dead-set on imposing its ridiculous claims using its naval advantage, the Philippine government must respond in ways that maximize our advantages.  To borrow James C. Scott’s terms, we must deploy the “weapons of the weak.”

Weapons of the weak
First of all, we must press our legal advantage.  The submission of the 4,000-page “memorial” delineating our entitlements in the West Philippine Sea to the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal is a giant step in this direction.  Beijing knows it does not have a leg to stand on in international law, which is why they have been pushing us to drop the case on pain of “damaging bilateral relations.”  As Vietnamese analysts told me during a recent visit to Hanoi, our raising the case to the United Nations blindsided Beijing and upset China’s careful calculations. According to one expert on Chinese diplomacy, “the reason they’re upset is because they already have five battlefields—the political, diplomatic, mass media, security, military—and now you’ve added a sixth: the legal battlefield.” Beijing, in other words, feels very much at sea on the legal front, where experts in international law will be calling the shots.

Second, we must up the diplomatic ante.  President Benigno Aquino III must summon Ambassador Zhao Jianhua to Malacañang and tell her in no uncertain terms that our country will tolerate no further aggressive moves.

We must also press our Asean partners to remind Beijing to live up to the commitment to negotiate a binding code of conduct on maritime behavior in the West Philippine Sea that it made at the foreign ministers’ meeting in Brunei last year.  Having been attacked and humiliated by the Chinese government and state media during the MH 370 crisis, Malaysia, which is one of the Spratly claimants, is probably now more open to collective Asean action on the South China Sea since it just experienced what feels like to be at the other end of China’s bullyboy diplomacy.  As for Vietnam, we should press it to move to more active cooperation with us, including implementation of the joint Vietnamese-Philippine naval patrols in the South China Sea that both governments agreed to in 2012. We should underline to both countries and to the fourth Asean claimant, Brunei, that Beijing is playing salami tactics with Asean, that once it finishes with the “weakest link,” they’re next.

Still on the diplomatic track, we should prepare the ground at the United Nations General Assembly for the eventual introduction of a resolution condemning Beijing’s unilateral annexation of over 80 per cent of the South China Sea, brusquely disregarding other littoral states’ rights to their continental shelves and 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones.  There’s a very good recent precedent: Beijing’s aggressive annexationism based on its arbitrary Nine Dash Line claim is essentially similar to Russia’s gobbling up of Crimea, which the General Assembly condemned last week. 

Not entirely powerless
Third, we must not neglect the military side of things, though we should tread carefully here since this is where Beijing is strong.  But we are not entirely powerless.  China’s maritime surveillance ships may be big but they cannot operate in shallow waters owing to their deep drafts.  Relying on civilian craft with experienced pilots that can move deftly in and out of shallow waters to pierce the blockade of Ayungin Shoal, as one supply ship was able to do successfully a few days ago, will do for now.  But we should be prepared for all eventualities, including that of being forced to resort to resupplying the Ayungin garrison with air drops.  The Philippine Air Force has several medium sized aircraft, like the P3 Orion long-range maritime surveillance plane based in Puerto Princesa, that can be outfitted for light resupply missions.  We must remember that while our air force is small and weak, China’s suffers from the “tyranny of distance.”  As former Westcom chief General Juancho Sabban pointed out, the Chinese mainland is so far away that by the time Chinese military aircraft get to the Spratlys, they are low on fuel and have to turn back.

We must also reinforce the garrison at Ayungin.  Bringing up the troop complement to platoon size would be a strong message to the world that we mean business and will defend Ayungin from all trespassers.  Of course, such a defensive move will evoke protests from Beijing, but we have every right to reinforce our garrison with personnel and modern arms that will assure the defenders a minimum level of security and lend credibility to our government’s commitment never ever to give up the reef.

Economic development:  Key to permanent possession
Finally, we must accelerate the development of Pag-asa Island, the strategic center of the Kalayaan Island group of seven reefs and two islands that belong to us.  The development of modern harbor facilities is long overdue.  When Reps. Ben Evardone, Kaka Bag-ao, Teddy Baguilat, and I visited Pag-Asa as members of a Peace and Sovereignty Mission from Congress in July 2011, we came away with a strong sense of the potential of the island as a fishing station and tourist site, and this was a message that we carried to our executive agencies.  It is time that Malacañang moves on long-proposed economic development plans, something that the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Taiwanese have apparently undertaken in the parts of the Spratly archipelago they occupy.  Once things get going, this will lead to a rapid increase in the civilian population from the 300 that are there at present.  A larger civilian population is the key to permanent possession of Kalayaan.
 
INQUIRER.net columnist Walden Bello represents Akbayan (Citizens’ Action Party) in the House of Representatives.  He led a Peace and Sovereignty Mission from Congress to Pag-asa Island in the Spratlys in July 2011.

UN case not a challenge to China—Aquino

SILANG, Cavite—President Aquino on Monday said the government’s decision to pursue the arbitration case in a United Nations tribunal was not intended to provoke China but to defend Philippine territory peacefully.

The President said filing the case in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Itlos) was consistent with the country’s policy to resolve the territorial dispute through peaceful means “in conformity with international law.”

“We are not here to challenge China, to provoke them into any action,” he said after leading the 35th commencement exercises at the Philippine National Police Academy here. “But I do believe that they should recognize [that] we have the right to defend our own interests.”

Speaking a day after the government submitted to the Itlos a 4,000-page “memorial” detailing its case, the President said defending a country’s territorial integrity was something Beijing would have done too if it were the Philippines.

Aquino said he “cannot tell the Chinese government what to do” when asked about the possibility of Beijing harassing Philippine vessels even more following the filing of the memorial.

“If they were in our position, on the reverse, would they have acted differently?” he asked.
“Under different conditions, they are the smaller country, they are the less military-capable, they have interests, will they willingly just forgo their interests here? I don’t think so.”

The President paid “special tribute” to the team of soldiers that managed to evade a Chinese blockade and replace the Marine troops stationed at a grounded Philippine Navy ship on Ayungin Shoal.

“They accomplished the mission without, I believe, increasing the tension and did it in a way that didn’t pose a threat to any other country, again consistent with the peaceful approach,” he said.

“But we had to change the personnel there and provide them the wherewithal to survive on Ayungin Shoal.”

Beijing earlier warned that bilateral relations between China and the Philippines would suffer if Manila proceeded with the arbitration case. China has been insisting on a bilateral approach to settle the territorial dispute, an option that the Philippines has rejected.

On March 9, the Chinese Coast Guard prevented a Philippine vessel from providing fresh supplies to Marine troops manning the grounded BRP Sierra Madre on Ayungin Shoal.

Last Saturday, a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ship on a similar resupply mission was blocked by China. But the vessel managed to complete the task by maneuvering to shallow waters where the much bigger Chinese ships could not follow.

Peaceful resolution
Aquino said Ayungin Shoal was “clearly within” the Philippines’ 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone.

He said the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) provided a “rules-based” approach to “counterclaims” by “every coastal state that has certain entitlements and rights.”

By filing the case based on the provisions of Unclos, the Philippines wants to ascertain “who is entitled to what, what are the rights of each one, what are the obligations of every state,” he said.

“What are our options with regard to the whole issue of the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea? I subscribed to this oath when I assumed office. I have to defend [our] national territory and our sovereignty,” he said.

“We went to arbitration primarily because that is a means to resolve the dispute consistent with the policy of peaceful [resolution] and in conformity with the international law.”

Asked how confident he was that the Philippines could secure a favorable decision at the Itlos, Aquino said, “It’s difficult to speak with finality at this point in time.” 

The President instead noted that the decision to seek arbitration was the product of a “consensus” following a meeting with former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and “senior members of the Cabinet who are focused on this issue.”

China reiterates rejection
The Chinese Embassy on Monday quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei as rejecting arbitration and accusing the Philippines of “illegal occupation of some of China’s islands and reefs.”
Hong said the Philippines agreed to China’s position to settle disputes through direct negotiations in a series of bilateral documents and in a 2002 declaration signed by Beijing and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea.
“The Philippines is obliged to honor its own commitment,” he said.

As a party to Unclos, China also declared in 2006 that such disputes were excluded from arbitration, Hong added.

Code of conduct
Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said Manila “never ruled out anything” with regards to resolving the dispute. He said it was up to the tribunal to determine if the case could be subject of arbitration.

That 2002 nonbinding declaration on the South China Sea was seen as a first step to forging a binding agreement. China has only reluctantly agreed to open consultations and has lobbied some Asean members to prevent consensus.

Aquino expressed frustration that after more than a decade of talks between Asean and China, “we still have no code of conduct.”

“So what are our options with regards to the whole issue,” he said. “I have to defend national territory and our sovereignty.”

The Philippines has urged other claimants to join the arbitration case, but none has done so publicly. China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have overlapping claims across the busy South China Sea.

China has asked claimants to settle the disputes through one-on-one negotiations, an advantage for Beijing because of its sheer size and clout. It has also warned Washington not to get involved.

US backs PH move
In Washington, US State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf backed the Philippines’ action, saying “all countries should respect the right of any states party, including the Republic of the Philippines, to avail themselves of the dispute resolution mechanisms provided for under the Law of the Sea Convention.”

“We hope that this case serves to provide greater legal certainty and compliance with the international law of the sea,” she said in a statement on Sunday.

She reiterated a longstanding US position that all parties refrain from taking unilateral actions that are “escalatory and destabilizing, to clarify their respective maritime and territorial claims in accordance with international law, and to commit to the peaceful management and resolution of disputes.”—With reports from Christine O. Avendaño and AP

SOURCE:  Philippine Daily Inquirer 

China rejects PH argument on territorial row

MANILA, Philippines—China on Monday said it would not accept and participate in the written argument submitted by the Philippines to the United Nations (UN) International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Itlos) .

“China does not accept the international arbitration initiated by the Philippine side. Disputes such as these have already been excluded from arbitration procedures through a declaration made by China in 2006 pursuant to the United Nations Convention on the Laws Of the Sea (Unclos),” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told Chinese reporters in a press briefing.

Hong said China urges the Philippines to adhere to using bilateral talks to resolve the maritime dispute.
Hong added that the direct cause of the dispute was the Philippines’ illegal occupation of some Chinese islets adding that China held a clear and consistent stance on its claims over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

According to Hong, China has “indisputable sovereignty over the Ayungin Shoal and its adjacent waters.”

Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose , meanwhile, said the Philippine government maintains its position to resolve the maritime dispute in a peaceful and diplomatic manner.

“We have been advocating peaceful settlement of the dispute without resorting to force or threat of force,” Jose said in an interview over Inquirer Radio 990AM.

Jose said the written argument or memorial submitted by the Philippines to the arbitration committee of the United Nation is the “most peacful, durable and lasting solution” to the maritime dispute.

He said the UN arbitral tribunal would continue the hearing of the  written memorial submitted by the Philippines even without China’s  participation and approval.

On Sunday,  the Philippines submitted a 4,000-page written pleading of the Philippines before an international tribunal against China’s expansive claims over the West Philippine Sea.

Chinese coast guard  vessels on Saturday blocked a civilian Philippine ship off the Ayungin Shoal in the Spratly Islands .

The civilian ship brought supplies to Philippine soldiers stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre that has been grounded at the Ayungin Shoal, an area within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, but which China claims as its own.

source:  Philippine Daily Inquirer