MANILA, Philippines - The planned oil exploration in the West Philippine Sea will proceed despite new protests from China, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said on Thursday.
Gazmin said the areas are within the jurisdiction of the country.
"The oil explorations are within our territorial limits. Why should we ask permission from whoever. If that's ours, its ours,” he said.
The Department of Energy announced last Monday it has already invited investors in the area.
Immediately, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei stressed their "indisputable sovereignty" over Nansha Islands or Spratly Islands and its adjacent waters.
"It is unlawful for any country or company to explore oil and gas in sea areas under Chinese jurisdiction without the permission of the Chinese government," Hong was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency.
Nonetheless, Gazmin sees no need to heighten maritime patrols in the area.
He ensured the safety of investors. He noted, “these investors would not go there if their safety is not assured."
Dipetik dari - ABS-CBN News
PH, US focus on Spratly, territorial defense
THE joint military exercises between the Philippines and the United States might happen within the West Philippine Sea as they shift from counter-terrorism to territorial defense cooperation, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said late Wednesday.
He said President Benigno Aquino III’s one-day working visit to Washington to discuss military cooperation will take place in late May or early June.
That would follow the high-level meeting between Del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and their US counterparts, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, which has been pushed to April 30 from this month.
The two-on-two meeting in Washington is aimed at discussing specific proposals from both sides on where to keep US warships and spy planes on a rotational basis.
Officials say Washington has pledged to provide $144 million in addition to a warship this year to help the Philippines’ territorial defense.
The Philippines has turned to the United States and other Western countries to acquire warships, fighter jets and radar to strengthen its security amid a long-simmering territorial dispute with China and other countries in the South China Sea.
Del Rosario said the shift in the focus of the Balikatan joint military exercises would be the proposed expanded and rotational presence of the United States in the region.
“We are looking at a higher frequency of joint military exercises with the US,” he told the diplomatic night forum of the Manila Overseas Press Club Wednesday evening.
“We are shifting from counter-terrorism to maritime and territorial defense. I am guessing this may require new terms of reference under the Visiting Forces Agreement.”
Del Rosario said the territorial defense exercises might happen in the areas within the West Philippine Sea [South China Sea] that were considered uncontested territories.
“We want to build a credible defense force that will complement our diplomatic tools to uphold our territorial sovereignty,” Del Rosario said.
He said the Philippines was banking on the US to beef up its “dilapidated” Armed Forces.
The Philippines is also depending on its Mutual Defense Treaty with the US in case its quarrel with China escalates as a result of the disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea.
A verbal tussle erupted between the Philippines and China after Energy Secretary Jose Almendras announced that the government had invited foreign oil companies to invest in fuel exploration in two offshore areas northwest of Palawan province that he said fell within the country’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in Beijing on Tuesday that the offshore areas ere China’s.
But Del Rosario said the Philippines had the right to invite foreign companies to explore for oil and gas in areas that “ well within our sovereignty” based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Dipetik dari - Manila Standard Today
VN blast China for assault of fishermen
HA NOI — Viet Nam has indisputable sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos, said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi yesterday.
The comment was made in response to a question from the media about Viet Nam's reaction to Chinese aggression in the area. China used force to threaten 11 fishermen on a vessel from Quang Ngai Province, preventing them from entering the Hoang Sa Archipelago to avoid strong winds.
The Chinese force is also reported to have assaulted the fishermen and to have tried to take their property.
"Vietnamese fishermen have moved freely in the territorial waters surrounding those two archipelagos for ages. They behaved in accordance with international laws, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982," Nghi said.
"The above-mentioned action from China has seriously infringed upon the sovereign, sovereign right and jurisdiction right of Viet Nam. It runs counter to the spirit of humanitarianism and gravely threatened the lives and property of Vietnamese fishermen," he said.
The spokesman also said that it did not correspond with the friendly relations between the two countries and went against the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).
"A representative from the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry has met with representative from the Chinese Embassy in Ha Noi to oppose the action from China, to ask China to refrain from future wrongful actions and to request compensation for the Vietnamese fishermen," Nghi said. — VNS
Dipetik dari - Viet Nam News
Lagi posting berkaitan,
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