Supreme Court Senior Associate said there are speculations that after securing South China Sea, China will move beyond the first island chain in the Western Pacific.
Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, in an exclusive interview of CNN Philippines on Thursday (November 25), said the maritime dispute in the South China Sea is a clash over resources.
For China, it's about asserting itself as a regional power when it controls the area.
"Definitely China wants all the resources in the South China Sea. They want all the fish, all the oil and gas," Carpio said.
"That's why when we tried to bid out internationally areas 3 and 4 in the Reed Bank they sent us note verbale. They said 'we own areas 3 and 4 in the reed bank.' In fact the entire reed bank, that's their position. So it's a fight over resources."
Carpio said China may influence countries around the South China Sea if it controls resources in the area.
Located in northwest of Palawan, the Reed Bank or Recto Bank is the site of an oil drilling project by Forum Energy which Philex Petroleum is a majority owner.
But government temporarily stopped the service contract on December 2014 as the drilling site is within the disputed area subject to a United Nations arbitration.
The arbitrary tribunal ruled it has jurisdiction over the country's case against China.
But Carpio said the country shouldn't eagerly lift the moratorium on oil drilling because of the ruling.
"The case has not been finished yet. We have to wait for the outcome. It's still pending," said Carpio.
He added: "if the tribunal rules that the Reed Bank belongs to the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, then of course we have all the right to proceed because under the law of the sea -- we have the exclusive right to exploit our EEZ.
China to move beyond South China Sea?
According to Carpio, there are also speculations that after securing South China Sea, China will move beyond the first island chain in the Western Pacific.
The Supreme Court justice said he doesn't know if China will do that-- but that seems to be the direction China is taking.
"If they do that, if they can control the South China Sea economically and militarily -- then there will be no law of the sea anymore. There will be no UNCLOS. That's why we went to the tribunal and asked the tribunal to apply the law of the sea in South China Sea."
Carpio said the Permanent Court of Arbitration's ruling on jurisdiction can be considered as "an initial victory for the Philippines." He adds it's "the ruling that we wanted."
On the seven submissions that the tribunal deferred ruling, he said this is expected.
"They have to know the facts. We have not presented the facts. Doesn't mean anything really. We expected that."
Carpio said the Philippines can expect a ruling not later than mid-2016.
He also believes the tribunal will rule that China cannot claim the entire South China Sea, but will be limited to what UNCLOS allows them -- 200 nautical miles from their coast line.
http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2015/11/05/Supreme-court-senior-associate-justice-antonio-carpio-south-china-sea.html
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