Opinion

South China Sea: China, Philippines must renew push on oil and gas cooperation as pathway to peace

Name: Explained: the history of China’s territorial disputes
Uploaded: 2021-07-13T16:30:09.000Z
Duration: 6 min 24 s
Description: Explained: the history of China’s territorial disputes

Progress on a 2018 agreement on joint exploration was hampered by the pandemic, but the lifting of a Philippine moratorium on such exploration should provide fresh impetus towards a mutually beneficial agreement

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Filipino protesters hold placards during a rally outside the Chinese consular office in Manila on July 12. The demonstration marked the fifth anniversary of the country’s victory at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in favour of the Philippines’ claims in the South China Sea. Photo: EPA-EFE

Rommel C. Banlaoi

Rommel C. Banlaoi is president of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies (PACS) and a member of the Board of Directors of the China-Southeast Asia Research Centre on the South China Sea (CSARC).

Published: 12:30am, 14 Jul 2021Updated: 1:04am, 14 Jul 2021

Though security tensions are rising in the South China Sea as a result of increased unilateral activities of claimants and other user states, peace and stability in this maritime domain can still be achieved if all stakeholders commit to lowering tensions by pursuing cooperation.

The development of natural gas and oil is one area where parties can pursue cooperation in the South China Sea, particularly five years after the release of the international arbitration decision.

The Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Oil and Gas Development signed by China and the Philippines in November 2018 is an impetus for parties to cooperate to share the resources of the South China Sea.

Rather than confront each other, China and the Philippines should uphold the duty to cooperate, which is mandated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and reaffirmed by the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the single draft negotiating text on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

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Explained: the history of China’s territorial disputes

To implement the MOU, China and the Philippines formed the Intergovernmental Joint Steering Committee on Oil and Gas Development in October 2019 during the fifth meeting of the Bilateral Consultative Mechanism in the South China Sea.