The exploration will cover the contested area, the whole of the WPS.

With hopes of achieving progress on both sides, the Philippines and China yesterday agreed to “push forward” communication and coordination for joint oil and gas development.

The two countries also “confirmed” the establishment of the Oil and Gas Development Inter-Governmental Joint Steering Committee during a meeting in Beijing.

In a joint statement, the two governments said the meeting was an offshoot of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that Manila and Beijing signed in November last year for possible oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea.

“The committee had a candid, in-depth and friendly exchange on cooperation arrangements under the MoU and agreed to further push forward communication and coordination on oil and gas development, with a view to achieving progress in accordance with the MoU,” the joint statement said.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Enrique Manalo and Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui were present during the first meeting, while a second meeting will take place in early 2020, the statement said.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said he was amenable to a 60-40 sharing deal with China in favor of the Philippines should the joint exploration push through.

Meantime, Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday said Beijing must first recognize Manila’s “ownership and sovereignty” over the West Philippine Sea before the joint oil and gas exploration project.

Less than a month after Duterte took over from former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III in mid-2016, the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of a protest filed by the Aquino leadership and invalidated China’s vast claims to the resource-rich waters.

Duterte refused to flaunt the ruling and instead sought closer economic and political ties with China under his foreign policy pivot away from the US.

The President also stressed that he doesn’t see anything wrong with China’s proposal to share oil resources in the West Philippine Sea, as long as Manila gets the bigger share.

The 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague made clear that the potentially oil-rich Recto (Reed) Bank is within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the West Philippine Sea.

China does not recognize the ruling, however, and instead ramped up its presence in the vital waterway.

In November 2018, the Philippines and China signed a MoU for oil and gas exploration during Xi’s state visit to the Philippines.

At the time, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. described the MoU as an “agreement to agree.”

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi joined Manalo in the delegation as co-vice chairman and Energy Assistant Secretary Gerardo Erquiza Jr. acted as Cusi’s substitute.

Other members of the Philippine delegation were DFA Assistant Secretaries Generoso Calonge and Meynardo Montealegre, Justice Undersecretary Emmeline Aglipay-Villar, National Mapping and Resource Information Authority official Dennis Arsenio Bringas and Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos.

Zhaohu had Vice Minister Li Fanrong of the National Energy Administration as co-chairman of the Chinese delegation. Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs director-general Hong Liang, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of Asian Affairs deputy director-general Shen Minjuan, Department of Treaty and Law counselor Gou Haibo, Office of Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee deputy director-general Liang Jinzhe, National Energy Administration deputy director-general of the Department Oil and Gas Liu Hong joined them.

A copy of the document shared to the media did not disclose specific areas to be covered by the exploration. However, in an interview with Cusi last 10 October, the Energy chief said the exploration will cover the “contested area, the whole of the WPS.”

The MoU stated that China and Philippines will abide by the principles of “mutual respect, fairness, and mutual benefit, flexibility and pragmatism, and consensus” in the negotiations on the joint oil and gas exploration in “relevant maritime areas consistent with applicable rules of international law.”