Chinese minister hopes Philippines will revive talks on oil, gas deals in South China Sea

A CHINESE minister has expressed hope for the revival of talks with the Philippines on oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea, without undermining each other’s claims in the disputed waterway.

Liu Jianchao, head of the Communist Party’s diplomatic arm, the International Liaison Department, told reporters in Manila recently that the discussions could continue if both sides showed “some kind of flexibility”.

“It seems that there are some legal barriers or legal factors that are standing in the way of a final consensus,” said Liu, who previously served as the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines.

“I hope that both sides will move about this issue in a way that is feasible and practical so that the cooperation could be continued and realised.”

Liu also said the maritime disputes should not be allowed to become a stumbling block in bilateral relations as Beijing moves towards a “golden era” in ties with Manila under President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. He added China was willing to help the Philippines in the agriculture, infrastructure and renewable energy sectors to boost cooperation between the two countries.

In June, Marcos Jnr’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, terminated talks over joint energy exploration between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea, citing constitutional constraints.

The two countries have sparred for decades over maritime sovereignty and had since 2018 pledged to jointly explore oil and gas assets in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), despite China also laying claim to them.

Liu also met Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo and exchanged views on a range of issues, including stalled China-backed infrastructure projects.

The Chinese minister said they did not want “to spend too much time discussing the feasibility of the projects that were previously agreed upon and once consensus is reached, the deals will move ahead”.

Meanwhile, the youth-backed West Philippine Sea Coalition urged Marcos Jnr to stand up against Beijing’s maritime assertiveness in the South China Sea when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York this month.

In his first State of the Nation speech, the president pledged that the Philippines would use diplomacy and be “a good neighbor” to other countries, but would not yield an inch of its territory.

China continues to defy a 2016 ruling by a UN-backed arbitration tribunal that invalidated Beijing’s extensive claims in the South China Sea on historical grounds. The tribunal also ruled that China’s massive land reclamations and actions against Filipino fishermen at a disputed shoal violated the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. (South China Morning Post)