“Other claimant countries in the wide SCS have come up with such arrangements without losing face, meanwhile profiting their economies”
IT WOULD be interesting to know what is all behind China’s attempt to dominate the disputed waters in the West Philippine Sea.
That, and the incursions of China’s President Xi Jinping’s armada of coast guard vessels to the point of even trying to stop Philippine Coast Guard and private vessels from resupplying provisions at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal to the rusty World War II BRP Sierra Madre vessel manned by a platoon of Philippine navy personnel.
In the many attempts of the Philippine Coast Guard and private vessels to resupply provisions to the rusty ship, China’s coast guard vessels have used high-pressure water cannons on crews of Philippine vessels to the point of hurting them.
I can not count all the diplomatic protests the Department of Foreign Affairs has filed.
Last week, an “ATIN ITO’’ flotilla of civilian vessels reached Panatag (Scarborough Shoal), or the Bajo de Masinloc off Zambales, to emphasize that it is Philippine territory, and even placed buoys along the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone.
But, as we all know , China put up a blockade to prevent Philippine fishing boats from entering.
What’s really behind all these actions of China within Philippione waters?
Yes, China insists Ayungin Shoal and Scarborough Shoal are within its “Nine-dash line” based on a questionable map of 1947.
But, we all know that the “Nine-dashline” of China had been outlawed by an Arbitral Court based at The Hague.
Now China is claiming all of the South China Sea as its own, to the point of warning foreigners that they will be detained for intrusion in China’s territorial waters.
With all of what China is doing mainly in the West Philippine Sea, the place has become a flash-point, placing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in a quandary.
And no matter how one looks at what’s happening in the WPS, China is winning in its claims.
But as I asked, what’s really behind all this?
A recent article from Bloomberg appears to explain what’s behind it all.
That’s why it might be good for Vietnam to partner with the Philippines since it’s all about the largest discovery of natural gas and oil between Vietnam and the Philippines.
Here’s the explanation of analysts:
“An estimated 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas, enough to power a city the size of Hanoi for decades, was discovered 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Vietnam’s central coast in 2011. If all had gone to plan, the “Blue Whale” project led by Exxon Mobil Corp, would have gone online late last year.
On the other side of the South China Sea, the Philippines has long eyed the energy riches off its western coast as a way to reduce its growing reliance on imported gas and oil, with successive governments drafting projects to tap into those resources and bolster the nation’s energy security.
None of it has happened — and an armada of Chinese fishing boats, coast guard cutters and a giant vessel dubbed the “Monster” are making sure it won’t happen anytime soon.
Beijing’s vast claims across the South China Sea — based on a vague 1947 map showing what’s become known as a “nine-dash line” which recently has been upgraded by Beijing to ten-dash line through the waterway — were rejected by a United Nations-backed tribunal in 2016.
But President Xi Jinping dismissed the ruling, and ever-growing tensions in the disputed waters all point to an uncomfortable truth for Southeast Asian nations, as well as the US.
In this standoff, China is winning.”
