Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday said a Philippine-Chinese state firm joint exploration of the South China Sea was “likely to happen.”
“We might enter into an agreement with a Chinese-owned corporation, not the Chinese state itself,” Roque said in an interview aired over national television.
Roque declined to name the company, but said it was state-owned.
“They’re moving forward and it’s likely to happen,” he added without giving a timetable or the exact terms of the proposed deal.
In defending the possible team-up, Roque said Filipino firms could not look for alternative sources of energy on their own and would need Chinese capital.
He added that “when a Filipino company attempted to explore on its own they were met by Chinese war boats (gunboats).”
He was referring to a 2011 incident when Manila said Chinese patrol boats harassed a seismic survey vessel chartered by a unit of a Philippine mining company at Philippine-claimed Reed Bank in the South China Sea.
“It’s not that we have no choice. We can go back and say, ‘Fine, no one benefits from the resources now’. But come on, we’re trying to look for alternative sources of energy,” Roque said.
President Rodrigo Duterte first announced China’s offer for a joint exploration in the area in a speech in Marawi on Wednesday.
“Now their (Beijing’s) offer is (this), which is like co-ownership. It’s like the two of us would be the owners. I think that’s better than fighting,” Duterte said.
But negotiations between the Philippines and China over South China Sea exploration were raised last month by Filipino Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.
Apart from the Philippines and China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim all or part of the sea. Agence France-Presse
