The Dragon Bares Its Fangs

Feb 20, 2018 | Gil H. A. Santos
View Original

Reports last week of China’s latest move on the Philippine Rise (aka Benham Rise), which was officially recognized by the UN as part of our continental shelf in 2012, revealed Beijing’s true intentions–and direction of its foreign policy—in relation to us—and Asean. The Philippine Rise is a plateau under the Pacific Ocean, on our northeastern seaboard off the coasts of Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino and Aurora. Most of it is within the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) internationally recognized under the UN Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) convention as exclusively ours to explore, exploit and develop for Philippine economic benefit. It must be noted that the UNCLOS’ primary purpose is to at least reduce the world’s extreme poverty by 2015. But it has failed to achieve that and the timeline has been moved to another two decades.