Philippines protests to China over oil rig plan

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines said Wednesday it had formally protested to Beijing over recent activity in disputed waters of the South China Sea and Chinese plans to anchor an oil rig there.

China’s charge d’affaires in Manila was summoned to the foreign ministry on Tuesday to hear the government’s concerns over actions by the Chinese military in the West Philippine Sea, a ministry statement said.

The foreign ministry said it “requested clarification from the Chinese embassy on the recent sightings of a China Marine Surveillance vessel and other People’s Liberation Army Navy ships”.

It said it was acting on information from the Philippine military, which reported that the Chinese vessels unloaded building materials, erected an undetermined number of posts, and placed a buoy.

The ministry said it had conveyed to Chinese embassy officials on Friday its concern over reports in Chinese state media about Beijing’s plans to install its most advanced oil rig in the South China Sea next month.

“During this meeting, the (foreign ministry) asked the Chinese embassy for the exact planned location of the mega oil rig, and pointed that it should not be placed in Philippine territory, or its waters,” it added.

The area where the buoy had been placed was “well within the Philippines’ 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone”, it said.

The ministry said the posts and buoy were about 26 nautical miles from Flat Island, one of the outcrops in the Spratlys archipelago occupied by the Philippines, and 125 nautical miles from the Philippine island of Palawan.

Any construction in the area violated a 2002 agreement signed by China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all lay claim to all or part of the Spratlys, which are thought to be rich in oil reserves.