MikeLigalig.com

President Benigno S. Aquino III on Monday said he may raise the issue of a joint oil exploration in the South China sea with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) when he visits Indonesia this week.

“I will be exploring the possibility,” the President said when asked by reporters about his view on a common ASEAN stand on exploration in the South China sea.

“Look at Reed Bank, the discovery there was sometime in the mid-‘70s. Within 2011, nobody is utilizing it. And it can be utilized now,” he said. “But again we are not able to exploit it because of the disputes. Maybe a joint exploration could be good and in the end we can resolve it.”

But the Chief Executive clarified that it was just an idea, adding he hasn’t even talked about it with other members of his government. At the same time, he noted that the concept is how to accelerate the pace where every claimant country could benefit from the resources in the area.

Asked about the possibility of sending Henry Bensurto, the secretary general of the Commission on Maritime and Oceanic Affairs Secretariat, to China to fix a recent misunderstanding over an alleged Chinese incursion in the Reed Bank basin, the President said he couldn’t give much detail. - PNA

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=38651.0