MANILA: The Philippines submitted a claim to the United Nations (UN) on Saturday for an extended continental shelf (ECS) in the South China Sea, a region marked by increasingly tense maritime disputes with China.
“Today, we secure our future by asserting our exclusive right to explore and exploit natural resources within our ECS,” stated Marshall Louis Alferez, foreign ministry assistant secretary for maritime and ocean affairs.
China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, overlapping areas claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. This strategic waterway, through which $3 trillion worth of trade passes annually, is believed to be rich in oil, natural gas, and fish stocks.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that China’s broad claims have no legal basis, a decision Beijing rejects.
China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately comment on the Philippines’ UN filing.
China’s coastguard has increasingly used aggressive tactics against Philippine government and fishing vessels, including water cannons, collisions, ramming, and, according to Manila, a military-grade laser. The Philippines and its allies consider a fleet of Chinese fishing boats to be a de facto sea militia.
The Philippines’ claim focuses on an extended continental shelf in the West Palawan Region of the South China Sea. This submission, approved by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., follows a detailed technical and scientific study of the continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea, which lies within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
The Philippines is leveraging the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to define the outer limits of its continental shelf, encompassing the seabed and subsoil of submarine areas up to 350 nautical miles. In 2012, the UN recognized Benham Rise, located off the Philippines’ east coast and not contested by China, as part of the Philippines’ extended continental shelf.
