Analysts: China's nine-dash line confuses oil industry

MANILA, Philippines — Analysts expressed concern over the ambiguity of China's nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea as it confuses the oil industry in the region.

Lucio Pitlo III, lecturer of international relations at the De La Salle University and of Chinese studies in Ateneo de Manila University, said that China's claim in the disputed sea causes confusion for the energy development players in the region.

Pitlo said during a roundtable discussion on oil and gas in Pasig City that the nine-dash line remains without coordinates and remains to be seen as uncontested in the eyes of Beijing.

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"Most of these fields are clustered near coastal areas - near Palawan, offshore Sabah, Sarawak, offshore Vietnam," Pitlo said.

Energy Resource Development Bureau Director Rino Abad added that the most important issue would be whether the waters enclosed by the nine-dash line covers the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the country in the West Philippine Sea.

Abad noted that the EEZ of other neighboring countries are also affected by China's claims in the South China Sea.

"About 80 percent of the EEZ in Sabah and Sarawak facing the South China Sea for Malaysia; for Vietnam, about 50 percent of the total EEZ; for Indonesia, 30 percent of the EEZ facing the South China Sea," Abad said.

Meanwhile, Petroleum Association of the Philippines President Sebastian Quiniones cited examples of joint development of energy resources in disputed areas, particularly in between Malaysia and Brunei.

Quiniones suggested that the country's lawmakers should consider if such arrangements would be beneficial to the country.

"The leadership of the Philippines should also see how exploration, development and production of Philippine petroleum resources may be pursued within undisputed areas both onshore and offshore, including the exploration of the Benham Rise," Quiniones said.

The Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, Inc., the University of the Philippines Institute of Maritime Law of the Sea and the Petroleum Association of the Philippines organized the roundtable on oil and gas last February 18.

The Philippines had filed an arbitration case against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands in connection to Beijing's extensive maritime claims in the South China Sea. The international tribunal is expected to release its decision by May.

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