China Explores for Oil, Closes Scarborough in the West Philippine Sea

China is upping up the ante in its occupation of territories in the West Philippine Sea and the entire South China Sea.

While the Philippines continue to stress and emphasize that Scarborough Shoal is of Philippine domain (known as Panatag Shoal within our midst) through President Aquino’s SONA speech and through recent press releases by Malacanang. Chinese Maritime vessels has seemingly cordoned the entire area even within our own view.

Just 163 sea miles off Subic Bay, Scarborough is well-within Philippine territorial jurisdiction, by any manner of legal determination, through the well-established Archipelagic Doctrine, or through provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas (Unclos).

It’s is so much nearer than Kalayaan Municipality which is off the Palawan southernmost tip by 380 miles.

But China is so recently acting like a tyrannical lord in some artificial land that is a creation of its own. Would you believe Chinese vessels had roped the mouth of a cove in Scarborough?

Philippine Coast Guard had reported Chinese Vessels leaving Panatag Shoal and then closing off a cay by putting rope on its mouth, a maneuver seen to prevent other fishermen from entering the area.

Now, I’ve never seen a more childish move than this from a nation aiming to occupy a territory so far from its shore and so near a contending party such as the Philippines. Definitely a brazen move and one intending to stir more conflict and disintegration of dialogue.

Another move by China is the bidding off of areas over disputed territories in the South China Sea for oil exploration, specifically in areas it contends with Vietnam.

Reports have stated that China National Offshore Oil Corp(CNOOC), the state oil company of China, have invited foreign firms for jointexploration over areas that are presently in dispute. It claims that while other countries have already benefitted by extracting minerals and gasses from the areas, it has yet to do such move. But records states that both Vietnam and the Philippines are extracting from areas clearly of their jurisdiction and not from disputed ones such as the Malampaya gas field.

Clearly, this move of China represents its ill-intention to claim all of the island territories in the entire South China Sea, which is at most illogical and spurious.