16 10 2024
According to data from the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) the whole South China Sea (SCS) has billions of gas and oil reserves. Most of the SCS is being claimed by China through its illegal nine, now 10-dash line.
The SCS, AMTI said, has an estimated 190 trillion CF of natural gas reserve and 11 billion barrels of oil reserve. An estimated 12,158 billion CF of natural gas reserve and 6,203 million barrels of oil reserve are in the South China Sea inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as of 2021.
The Philippines longed to unlock the potential of an existing gas field, which is about 80 kilometres off the northwest coast of the island of Palawan inside the Philippines EEZ.
International law recognizes a country’s EEZ as the area where such a country has the exclusive right to tap natural resources.
The problem, however, is that most energy companies have refrained from bidding for service contracts not because of fear that the offshore blocks will not yield viable natural gas reserves but because of the risks that China’s aggression brings.
As stressed by Raymond Powell, a fellow at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, China has prevented the Philippines from exploiting its own oil and gas reserves inside its EEZ through the “effective use of threats and coercion.”
Powell pointed out that over the years, China has been taking over SCS features inside Philippine territorial waters, such as Whitsun (Julian Felipe) Reef, Sabina (Escoda) Shoal, and Rozul (Iroquois) Reef “through a gray zone tactic we call ‘rafting’, which is the positioning of floating outposts.”
These outposts, he said, are comprised of supposed “fishing” vessels that don’t actually fish but simply tie themselves together to establish a semi-permanent presence. Rozul Reef is located at the southern end of Reed (Recto) Bank, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves.
For Joshua Espeña, vice president of the think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, China is denying the Philippines access to its rich resources through:
1. Anti-access and area denial operations in the West Philippine Sea (WPS)
2. Use of radio challenges by Chinese vessels inside the Philippine EEZ
3. Dangerous naval manoeuvres and interdiction against Philippine vessels
4. Water cannon attacks on Philippine vessels by Chinese coast guard and militia ships
5. Use of People’s Liberation Army vessels to tail and target Philippine coast guard and navy ships
“It’s also plausible that its medium-range cruise missile systems from China’s reclaimed man-made, dual-use islands might be used to conventionally deter the Philippine government forces from establishing a ‘security box’ and allow Manila to freely exploit resources on its own,” he said.
“Strategically, China wants to impose fait accompli conditions on the Philippines,” Espeña said. Fait accompli, as defined by Oxford Dictionary, is something that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept it.
Espeña pointed out that it is possible that China has already exploited some of the areas in the WPS given the mounting evidence of environmental damage in the area.
He said the destruction is a possible depiction of the “scorched earth” strategy, which means “damaging geographical areas to render them useless to enemies in the future.”
“The implication of this is to shame its Filipino counterparts and signal that this area is not worth fighting for,” he said, but stressing that it is no excuse for the Philippines not to find ways forward to establish a credible presence to possibly drill the seabed for new oil and gas deposits.
