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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 17) – China views President Rodrigo Duterte’s lifting of the moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the Western Philippine Sea as a positive development in planned joint exploration in disputed waters.
“We hope that the two sides will work together to make further progress in joint exploration,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular news conference in Beijing on Friday.
“China and the Philippines have reached a consensus on joint exploration of oil and gas resources in the South China Sea and have established relevant consultation and cooperation mechanisms,” he added.
On Thursday, the Department of Energy announced that Duterte approved its recommendation to allow exploration work to resume in the Western Philippine Sea, paving the way for local contractors to return to their drilling activities and for joint exploration to continue. with China.
Duterte’s predecessor, former President Benigno Aquino III, issued the moratorium in 2012 amid mounting tensions with China. Insisting that Duterte’s latest decision was a unilateral move, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said he hopes China will ask for an explanation.
Cusi is co-vice chair of the intergovernmental steering committee that will oversee the projects under joint development. The secretary said he did not inform his Chinese counterparts about the resumption of activities under Service Contracts 59, 72 and 75, which cover areas within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines that Beijing disputes.
Service contract 59 is in West Balabac, Palawan; Service contract 72 covers Recto Bank, also known as Reed Bank; while service contract 75 is in northwest Palawan.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, including parts of the Philippine EEZ where the country has exclusive sovereign rights. An international court in The Hague ruled in 2016 that China violated these sovereign rights when it interfered with oil exploration and blocked Filipino fishermen in the area, as well as building artificial islands in the Western Philippine Sea.
China rejected the landmark ruling and Duterte set it aside to allow economic activity in the disputed area. He cited Beijing’s agreement to give the Philippines 60 percent of the revenue from joint exploration.
The memorandum of understanding signed by the Philippines and China states that the two countries agreed to accelerate arrangements for joint exploration in maritime areas in accordance with international law. It also establishes that all negotiations carried out under the agreement “will be without prejudice to the respective legal positions of both governments.”
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