Will China make the Philippines ‘pay a price’ for its latest South China Sea claim?

Manila’s bid for UN recognition of extended continental shelf claim could encourage similar moves, adding complexity to tangled disputes, observers say

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A Chinese coastguard vessel fires a water cannon towards a Philippine resupply vessel as it makes its way to the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea in March. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:30pm, 19 Jun 2024Updated: 2:33am, 20 Jun 2024

A bid by the Philippines to have the United Nations formally recognise the extent of its continental seabed in parts of the disputed South China Sea could encourage similar claims from rival claimant states, according to observers.

The UN might not give what Manila wanted, but the action would add layers of complexity to the already tangled regional disputes and possibly induce tougher countermeasures from Beijing, they added.

The Philippines last week filed a submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), seeking confirmation on the extent of its undersea continental seabed in the West Palawan Region facing the South China Sea, according to Manila’s foreign ministry.

“The seabed and the subsoil extending from our archipelago up to the maximum extent allowed by Unclos hold significant potential resources that will benefit our nation and our people for generations to come,” Philippine foreign assistant secretary Marshall Louis Alferez said.

Unclos is the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which grants exclusive rights to exploit natural resources in continental shelf to a coastal state.

The move by the Philippines drew swift opposition from Beijing, which urged the commission not to review Manila’s submission as it involved disputed maritime space.