No timeline yet on possible PH-China joint oil exploration: DFA

Locsin said a proposal was made during his meeting with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Madrid, Spain last year, with discussions continuing from that point. He did not provide further details but said “every step of those talks” was cleared by members of the Cabinet and President Rodrigo Duterte. (File: PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

MANILA – Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. on Tuesday said Manila and Beijing are still discussing a possible joint oil and gas exploration in the West Philippine Sea.

Locsin said the two countries would need to identify a “specific project” first under the Philippine-China Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Oil and Gas Development (MOU).

“For one year both sides exchanged impossible-to-reconcile positions. So I felt that what we need here is to try with a specific project, a project in the disputed area. With us it’s not disputed, it’s ours by right but it’s a Chinese claim,” he said in an interview with CNN Philippines. “A specific project will then focus on how you’re actually gonna do it.”

Locsin said a proposal was made during his meeting with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Madrid, Spain last year, with discussions continuing from that point. He did not provide further details but said “every step of those talks” was cleared by members of the Cabinet and President Rodrigo Duterte.

“What is important is the care with which we are working on the language, so that that language and what it translates to in real actions do not, in any way, constitute a surrender of our rights under the Arbitral Award and UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea),” he said.

“China, I suppose, is doing the same thing because we’re still talking and that’s the situation now,” he added.

Whatever the outcome, Locsin said these talks would provide a template that may serve as guidelines for future projects between the disputing parties.

“That template will govern how I, the DFA, will decide whether any specific project by other any department follows the law, the Constitution, and our rights under the arbitral award. I’m not gonna give in to anybody. I don’t care how influential they think they are,” he said.

The Philippine government recently lifted the moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the West Philippine Sea to strengthen the country’s energy security.

The resumption of petroleum activities covers the areas within Service Contract Nos. 59, 72, and 75 in the West Philippine Sea, which were suspended on the ground of force majeure due to the existing South China Sea dispute.

Talks on oil and gas cooperation were halted due to the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak early this year.

In a Palace briefing last month, Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana said Manila and Beijing are trying to determine when the negotiations can resume safely amid the pandemic.