There appears to be a new border for China’s ambitions in Southeast Asia.
The other day, the Philippine Navy, with its telescopes on the tension-filled West Philippine Sea, reported spotting two Chinese vessels “loitering” around the Philippine Rise, originally called Benham Rise, within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone and continental shelf.
Observers note that can only mean one essential thing: Beijing is trying to figure out how Manila can be quick at monitoring security while attending to other concerns in other parts of its territory like the West Philippine Sea.
What were the Chinese vessels doing within the Philippine Rise, described as rich in metallic minerals, including sulfides like gold and copper, since it is within the Pacific Ring of Fire, as well as manganese deposits, a vital component of steel production?
The Rise, a vast undersea landmass in the Western Pacific, is part of the Philippines’ extended continental shelf, and very distant from the burgeoning conflicts nearer to China’s coast in the South China Sea.
The Rise stretches from the coast of Cagayan and Bicol up to approximately 300-350 nautical miles in the Pacific Ocean. A large part of this plateau is within the 200 nm EEZ and continental shelf of the Philippines.
Experts say the main body is built on a shield platform from ~5200 m to ~3800 m sub-sea. The platform flanks consist of ~3–15 km wide terraces with scarps as high as 100 m to 300 m. The platform is surmounted by a crest exhibiting caldera morphology at an average depth o ~2500 m.
With this development, Philippine Navy spokesperson Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said naval forces will launch an air surveillance flight on the resource-rich Philippine Rise.
It was former United States Air Force official and ex-Defense Attaché Ray Powell who disclosed that two Chinese research vessels left port at Longxue Island in Guangzhou on Feb. 26 and moved east southeast through the Luzon Strait.
Trinidad said the surveillance mission the naval authorities will launch will determine what kind of Chinese vessels were spotted near the Philippine Rise, noting the monitoring and surveillance in the area is nearly 24/7.
The Philippine naval presence has not yet reached the Philippine Rise but authorities said they have capability development plans, particularly with the Rise.
The sea conditions are different there because it faces the Pacific Ocean. In the West Philippine Sea, there are times when the seas are rough, but the eastern seaboards are rougher.
According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Philippines has “sovereign rights” in the Philippine Rise, meaning other states can’t conduct any exploration and exploitation activities there without permission.
It is clear who owns the Philippine Rise.
The Philippines owns the territorial sea but nobody owns the huge balance, except that the Philippines enjoys exclusive maritime rights over it.
We live in interesting times indeed.