|
 China claims almost the entire South China Sea, believed to be
rich in deposits of oil and gas resources. Brunei, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim the sea where $5 trillion
of ship-borne goods pass every year.
"Recently, we got a report from the armed forces that there were two
hydrographic ships in Recto Bank, about 80 nautical miles off
Palawan, clearly within our exclusive economic zone," Aquino told a
television interview aired on Sunday. Recto Bank is also known as
Reed Bank.
"What are they doing there? What kind of studies are they
conducting? I hope the presence of these ships will not lead to an
increase tension between the two states."
Tensions in the South China Sea between the Philippines and China
began in 2011 when Chinese patrol boats harassed a survey ship hired
by Anglo-Filipino Forum Energy PLC which won a contact to explore
the Reed Bank.
Aquino said two Chinese survey ships were now in the same area where
Veritas Voyager, hired by the British-based energy company, was
conducting research three years ago.
"The frequent passage of Chinese vessels in Recto Bank is not an
innocent exercise of freedom of navigation but is actually done as
part of a pattern of illegitimate sovereign patrol in the
Philippines' exclusive economic zone," Charles Jose, foreign
ministry spokesman, said in a statement on Monday.
"This conduct of sovereignty patrols by China is in violation of
both UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration of
Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), specifically
paragraph 5."
In May, Aquino told Southeast Asian leaders that two Chinese ships
were also sighted in Galoc, another oil field operating in western
Palawan.
[to top of second column] |
Aquino did not say when the military sighted the Chinese survey
ships in the Reed Bank and if they were still in the area. The
Philippine Navy said three Chinese coast guard vessels have been
seen daily around Second Thomas Shoal, not far from Reed Bank.
Another two to three Chinese ships have been seen regularly on
patrol around Scarborough Shoal, another part of the disputed South
China Sea.
Last month, Forum Energy PLC obtained an approval from the
Philippine government to extend by one year its drilling plan for a
natural gas project in Reed Bank. The company is now expected to
complete by August 2016 drilling for its appraisal wells to assess
the size of gas or oil discoveries.
(Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
