MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines has asked a United Nations body to formally recognize the extent of its undersea continental seabed in the South China Sea, where it would have the exclusive right to exploit resources, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Saturday , in a move that rejects China’s vast territorial claims over the region.
The Philippine government has submitted information to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on the extent of its submarine shelf in the South China Sea, off the western province of Palawan, after more than a decade and a half of scientific investigation, the Philippine government said. Department.
China did not immediately comment, but is likely to challenge the Philippine move.
The undersea region where the Philippines seeks to formally establish its sovereign rights under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, encompasses the Spratlys, a chain of islands, islets, reefs and atolls that has been fiercely contested over the years by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. Indonesia also confronted the Chinese coast guard and fishing fleets in the Natuna sea, rich in gas on the shores of the South China Sea.
“Incidents in the waters tend to overshadow the importance of what lies beneath,” said Philippine Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs Marshall Louis Alferez. “The seabed and subsoil that extend from our archipelago to the maximum extent permitted by UNCLOS contain significant potential resources that will benefit our nation and our people for generations to come.”
“Today, we secure our future by manifesting our exclusive right to explore and exploit natural resources on our expanded right to the continental shelf,” said Alferez.
Under the 1982 UN convention, a coastal state could have exclusive rights to exploit resources on its continental shelf, a vast expanse of seabed that can extend up to 350 nautical miles (648 kilometers), including the right to authorize and regulate any type of drilling. .
The Philippines’ underwater continental shelf could potentially overlap with those of other South China Sea coastal states, including Vietnam. Philippine authorities have expressed willingness to hold talks to resolve such issues based on UNCLOS.
Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN Antonio Lagdameo said the move “could reinvigorate states’ efforts to demonstrate their readiness to pursue UNCLOS processes in determining maritime rights and promote a rules-based international order.”
Hostilities and tensions in the disputed waters have increased alarmingly, especially between China and the Philippines due to two disputed shoals since last year. Chinese coast guard ships and suspected militia vessels used powerful water cannons and dangerous blocking maneuvers against Philippine Coast Guard patrol ships and navy boats that injured Philippine navy personnel, damaged their supply boats, and strained diplomatic relations between the two countries.
After a tense standoff between Philippine and Chinese ships near a sandbar in 2012, the Philippines took its disputes with China the following year to international arbitration. The arbitration panel invalidated China’s claim to virtually the entire South China Sea in a 2016 ruling, but Beijing refused to participate in arbitration, he rejected the decision and continues to challenge it.
