Quote of the Day: Greed and anxiety concerning SC-72 have been the consistent, unifying thread in Philippines-PRC dispute

As to where this all goes, I envisage a specific scenario. It relates to SC-72, a hydrocarbon exploration block off the coast of the Philippine island of Palawan in a region called Reed or Recto Bank, in a zone that the Philippines claims lies within its 200-nautical mile EEZ, but the PRC also claims.

Amid the resource-related bonanza bullshit that underlies SCS rhetoric, SC-72 might be the real thing, a significant oil and gas find that will provide a major economic boost to the Philippine economy and the government's bottom line. Greed and anxiety concerning SC-72 have been the consistent, unifying thread of Philippine-PRC maritime disputes including the Scarborough Shoal circus.

The Philippine government designated a Philippine controlled company, Forum Energy, owned by Philippine's leading rich guy Manuel Vs Pangilinan (and very close friend of Del Rosario; indeed, Pangilinan was the informal envoy Del Rosario sent to the PRC when his formal diplomacy hit a wall and Aquino turned to Trillanes) to "help assert the Southeast Asian country's sovereign rights over parts of the South China Sea, claimed by the Philippines as the West Philippine Sea."

SC-72 was originally a centerpiece of prospective PRC-Phillipine cooperation and co-development. The main point of contention was Phillipine insistence that the PRC acknowledge SC-72 as lying within the Phillipine EEZ, something that beyond bragging rights would give the Philippine government 100% share of the royalties. In an interesting parallel to the PRC/Vietnam/Paracels situation, Pangilinan declared "his only condition ... was for CNOOC to respect the Philippines' rights over Recto Bank.

When the Philippine concession-holder sent a survey ship into SC-72 in 2011, a PRC vessel played chicken-of-the-sea and nearly rammed it. Nevertheless, the Philippine side has consistently presented SC-72 as a venue for cooperation with the PRC.

I wonder if this is about to change.

This is from US foreign policy and East Asian affairs analyst Peter Lee writing at the Asia Times Online. Mr. Lee also suggests that domestic political grandstanding, double dealing, backstabbing, miscommunications, impulsiveness and US meddling among many factors have driven a wedge in Philippine-PRC relationship. 

Interesting.

As I wrote in 2012,

territorial disputes over supposed resources represents a façade meant to protect the interests of domestic cronies than of the average Filipinos. (Guess who will get the service contracts for resource extractions once the dispute is settled?)