Fajarasia.co – Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin said that talks on joint energy exploration between his country and China in the South China Sea have been suspended, citing constitutional constraints and sovereignty issues.
The two countries have debated for decades over maritime sovereignty and have since 2018 pledged to jointly explore oil and gas assets in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), although China also claims the area.
“We have gone as far as constitutionally possible. One step forward from where we are standing on the brink is falling into a constitutional crisis,” Locsin said in a speech on Friday (24/6/2022).
“Three years have passed and we have not achieved our goal of developing the oil and gas resources that are so important to the Philippines, but not at the price of sovereignty; not even a single particle,” he asserted.
It is not clear when the decision was taken. The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The Philippines, which relies heavily on imported fuel, has struggled to find foreign partners to help exploit its offshore energy reserves because of China’s overlapping claims.
Instead, the two countries pledged to cooperate, helped by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s efforts to forge warmer ties with China.
But many experts doubt such an arrangement is possible because of political sensitivities and warn any agreement to share energy resources could be seen as legitimizing the other party’s claim, or giving away sovereign territory.
The 2016 international arbitration award made it clear that the Philippines has a sovereign right to exploit energy reserves within the 200-mile EEZ.
However, China, which claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea as its territory, has refused to recognize the decision.
The two countries set up a special panel to find out how they can jointly explore the territorial waters without discussing sensitive sovereignty issues.
However, Locsin said that could not be achieved without violating the Philippine constitution, or the Chinese government dropping its claims. Duterte, he said, had called for the talks to cancel.
“The president has spoken … oil and gas discussions have been stopped completely. Nothing has been delayed; it’s all over,” Locsin said.****
