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Friday, March 29, 2024

PH rejects China’s request

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CHINA’S request to conduct marine research in Benham Rise has been rejected due to its refusal to allow a Filipino scientist to observe such research, Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said.

He said China still had two pending requests to survey the oil-resource-rich Benham Rise and that could be granted if Beijing complies with the Philippine government’s requirement.

“There have been many [requests], but certainly I know a number have been denied and in fact two are still under consideration, two or three requests [to visit Benham Rise],” Manalo told ANC’s Headstart on Thursday morning.

“They’ve had some requests from before and I think they’re waiting for a reply.”

Manalo said China had been asking permission to conduct marine research in Benham Rise for “a number of years” now and some had been denied.

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Manalo said, citing the Unclos, that any country planning to study Benham Rise must secure permission from the Philippines.

He said the reason China’s request had been rejected several times because it failed to comply with the condition that a Filipino scientist should be on board to observe the supposed study.

“That’s one [requirement] where perhaps China didn’t want it, so the permission was denied,” he said.

Asked if the government would be inclined to grant the pending requests, Manalo said if China agreed to have Filipino scientist on board, yes.

“If they fulfill our requirements,” Manalo said.

Benham Rise lies in the eastern part of the Philippines on the Pacific Ocean, where there is no island or country nearby.

The 13-million-hectare Benham Rise, about 250 kilometers east of Dinapigue, Isabela, has untapped resources and is said to be wider than Luzon, Samar and Leyte combined.

In 2012, the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf approved the country’s undisputed territorial claim over Benham Rise.

In the past week, reports came out over China’s continuous action in the Panatag Shoal and in Benham Rise.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said a Chinese survey ship was seen in Benham Rise.

China maintains it respect the Philippines’ ownership of the resource-oil-rich water and that Beijing was only “exercising its right of freedom of navigation”.

The Philippines has lodged a new note verbale asking China to explain its recent action in Benham Rise.

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