Inside Philippine politics & beyond

Why Benham Rise is now China’s object of fascination

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By Raïssa Robles

I would like to share with you today my South China Morning Post piece on Benham Rise.

Due to lack of space, I was not able to include the following:

According to maritime law specialist Jay Batongbacal, their goal now is to declare the shallowest and most important part of the area as a “no-go, no-take marine protected zone”.

In a recent forum conducted on the Oceana marine research project in Benham Rise, a video was shown of the scientists who had participated in the 2017 Oceana cruise.

Oceana’s chief strategist Margot Stiles excitedly revealed that they had discovered there a new species of coral that had “never been found”.

Stiles gushed that “the Philippines is at the center of marine biodiversity on the planet.”

It was for these reasons, Batongbacal said, that “these resources have to be adequately protected”.

You can watch the Oceana video below. Perhaps you can pass on the link to the Palace. 

I also interviewed Roilo Golez, a former congressman and former national security adviser.

He told me he was against allowing any Chinese marine research ship in the area. He said, “even if you put a battalion of Filipino scientists there, they will not be able to detect what data they will be gathering. Because they will be putting instruments to determine salinity, temperature, etc. and that data will go straight to their computers.”

“The moment that data go into their computers, how do we know whether the data they will share with us is accurate or complete or whether they are hiding something.”

“Like me, if we both go around taking pictures, you don’t know what I’m seeing,” he told me.

By giving permission, Golez said the Philippine government would be handing to China “delicate data on salinity, temperature and currents.” My piece below further explains why Golez considers such data “delicate”.

Philippines’ approval of Chinese research vessel in strategic Benham Rise waters triggers national security concerns

By Raissa Robles

31 January 2018

A Chinese ship that arrived in the Philippines this week ahead of an approved mission to a strategically crucial undersea region sparked concerns over the Southeast Asian country’s powers of jurisdiction, and its national security.

The vessel called Ke Xue docked in the remote town of Santa Ana, Cagayan province, over the weekend to pick up a Philippine researcher who would accompany the ship to Benham Rise – a 13 million hectare undersea plateau 250km off the coast of Luzon and now known as the Philippine Rise.

Philippine lawmakers have called for a congressional probe into the research being conducted, with one national security adviser suggesting it had a dual purpose and potential military applications.

The Benham Rise was recognised in 2012 by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as part of the Philippine continental shelf, within its exclusive economic zone.

Professor Jay Batongbacal, from the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea – who helped mount the successful UNCLOS claim – said Chinese vessels entering the region was “a matter of concern” because they had been doing so “without permission, without Filipino participation”.

“Under UNCLOS, the Philippines has the exclusive jurisdiction to regulate scientific research over its exclusive economic zone,” he said.

While the Ke Xue had gained formal permission from President Rodrigo Duterte’s office to measure “the temperature, salinity and current distributions” of the waters for China’s Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, it was the first Chinese ship to ever do so.

To read the rest, please click on this link.

Comments

  1. Maritime resources in the West Philippine Sea are no longer for Filipinos

    Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross reefs has evolved from islets, to manufactured artificial islands and now they are man-made cities.

    According to research data analysis from Earthrise Media, China’s PLA occupied “Big Three” (Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross reefs) has developed in the following;

    – Subi, some 1,200 km (750 miles) from China’s coast, is now home to nearly 400 individual buildings,

    – Mischief and Fiery Cross each house almost 190 individual buildings and structures,

    – Analysts said the facilities on Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross could each hold a regiment – between 1,500 to 2,400 troops,

    – Large Chinese amphibious landing vessels and other ships have used the full-scale naval wharves at Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief.

    Apart from several 3 km + runaways for passenger, cargo planes to military fighter jets & bomber planes, including military hangars for missiles and advance communication facilities. It also has deep sea wharves for PLA Navy ships, submarines, based on surveys of high-resolution images obtained by DigitalGlobe satellites, show neat rows of basketball courts, parade grounds and a wide variety of buildings, some flanked by radar equipment.

    China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in scenarios short of war with the United States,” Admiral Philip Davidson, the nominee to be the next commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific

    Read the whole article @ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-southchinasea-insight/concrete-and-coral-beijings-south-china-sea-building-boom-fuels-concerns-idUSKCN1IO3GA

    ——–

    In two years under PRR Duterte’s administration.

    Duterte’s tacit approval?
    https://www.raissarobles.com/2018/04/26/in-closinglocking-down-boracay-president-duterte-is-turning-to-the-phrase-that-destroyed-a-republic/#comment-437237

    Tacit welcome?
    https://www.raissarobles.com/2018/05/11/is-sereno-still-part-of-the-supreme-court-even-though-she-was-ousted-as-chief-justice/comment-page-1/#comment-441089

  2. People’s Republic of China – Constitution:
    Its Preamble provision –
    “The future of China is closely linked with that of the whole world. China adheres to an independent foreign policy as well as to the five principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity”

    “the Constitution as the basic norm of conduct, and they have the duty to uphold the dignity of the Constitution and ensure its implementation.”

    China does not respect sovereignty and territorial
    integrity though China’s Constitution says ‘to uphold
    the dignity of the Constitution and ensure its
    implementation.’

    Thus, China is clearly violating its Constitution’s
    PREAMBLE.

    China’s Constitution in its Chapter I General
    Principles, does not provide for respect of
    International Law. Thus, China will do what it
    wants despite what International provide otherwise.

    What has China done? It has occupied per its
    claim other territories of other countries. It has
    put up its NINE-DASH Lines invading also
    Philippine West Sea’s Isles, Rocks, etc.

    China went to see and surveyed if Philippine Rise
    [ Benham Rise ] can be part of its claim for
    future occupancy, giving names for the Rise
    like it is Its territory. There is a vast presence
    of natural resources in that Rise. China is very
    much interested to have at all costs, by peaceful
    means or not. Slowly but surely not peaceful.

    The 9-Dash Lines will be modified later at it was
    originally an ELEVEN-DASH Lines, so as to reach
    the Philippine Rise, liken it to BULGE eastward,
    similar to Hitler’s act of doing a Battle of the
    Bulge in Belgium during WW II.

    It will then be called the BULGE LINES of China
    from West to East.

    PDutz will keep on not bulging an eye at this.

    Keep closed eyes for more to come. . .

  3. Sabi ni Duterte: Build build build!

    Sagot ng China: ok olrayt eto matatapos na may dadaungan na mga barko, submarino, may paliparan na para sa jet and bombers, may radar and missile systems na, may anti-aircraft na rin, may storage for supplies and ammo, thank you sa pwesto!

    hee hee hee

    • kaya supply, supply, supply, todo ang supply and china is now the number one o biggest supplier of shabu sa pinas, sabi po ng pdea. with the naval and perhaps the backing of newly constructed military base sa isla, more chinese shabu shipments will arrive in our shores. more happy days for drug lords. parties everywhere, shabu in abundant! and raining down like manna from the skies!

      and all roque can say is – what can I do? well, for a start, he should stop being hypocrite, go out and welcome chinese shabu shipments, and tax the bloody shippers! tax them to the high heavens! and impound their ships if they dont pay tax!

      do something, roque, instead of just twiddling your fat thumbs! he, he, he.

  4. A whole collection of Chinese “Battle Star” bases in our West Philippine Sea? Du30 shrugs it off, “What can we do? Go to war?” Chinese anti-piracy patrols in the Sulu Sea? “Good idea,” Du30 says, “we can’t patrol all that water ourselves.” (Sidebar question: Will China be able to sink Filipino boats with the same impunity the PNP shoots down poor people? Just say “They were pirates…they fought back!” & it’s automatically ok?)

    Now it’s Benham…start of a Chinese gold-rush for food & minerals. Again, China *invited* into supposedly sovereign Philippine territory. China to the East of us; China to the West of us; China to the South of us & the hothouse of China/Taiwan to the North of us. Actually, we look kind of surrounded, don’t we?

    I’m a pretty level-headed old man &, though I’ve seen enough in life to kind of have an idea of when it might be wise to be alarmed, I’m certainly no alarmist or conspiracy theorist, But I see Du30 insulting & refusing aid from our traditional allies in ways that seem designed to literally *force* us into the arms of China’s financial machinery, making (lately proposed) no-bid contracts, accepting loans with murky transparency to finance huge, largely unplanned infrastructure projects which, if our maritime adventures are any measure, will depend heavily on the “good will” of the Chinese…well, it just reminds me too much of the things China has pulled off several other places in the world.

    If ever the Philippines should find itself coming into default on no-strings Chinese loans (for instance if we gain no economic benefits because too much money went to corruption) I am absolutely sure the Chinese will know *exactly* what they’ll be willing to take over to recoup their “losses.” Du30 should not be allowed to use Benham Rise as a chip to bet in the Chinese casino…the house always wins.

    Of course, if Cha-Cha is allowed to pass & we are doomed to a pro-Chinese trapo-federalist dictatorship, we’ll no longer have any say I the matter.

    • what a flawed logic duterte et al got! duterte cannot go to war with china kuno kaya, belly up na lang siya, surrender na lang siya without even trying his utmost to stand his ground and save his own country. samantalang yong pride of the phil army is sent to fight own people in mindanaw. different ideology, same people, same nation, same flag. sayang na sayang yong mga military exercises na sinalian ng army natin kung hindi man lang nila magagamit ang mga iyon! maybe duterte does not want to fight, but our army is probly itching to defend our territory and fight china to the last man! but duterte is uber duwag, wants the army to be uber duwag like him: baklain! and ordered them to mindanaw instead.

      if there is war with china, pinas has already dismissed most of its friends and allies, and now, it has none left to come to its aid.

      but of course china is bluffing. why would it unleash its military might against ph only to harvest more ruins like that in marawi city, dead pinoys in the thousands and maybe millions littering the streets, outbreak of diseases in the aftermath, broken economy, famine and starvation of those few left standing, and risk the condemnation of the whole world! of course china wants pinas intact, pristine, buong-buo at walang sugat. hindi watak-watak, garutay and crippled with diseases brought on by mega military bakbakan.

      if there are dead pinoys, there will also be dead chinese. and instead of counting profits china would have to part with money and spend bigger bucks to rebuild and rehabilitate a pinas decimated by war. losing money and not gaining money is probly against chinese mantra. of what use to china a pinas in ruins?

      kaya, I say, war is china’s bluff and duterte is buying it.

      • kaya, I say, war is china’s bluff and duterte is buying it.

        Duterte’s actions in favoring China is a demontration of gratitude. I would rather say, he is selling, not buying

  5. OOT:

    Kaya pala in dire need to suspend Ombudsman Excecutive kahit na obstruction of justice ito dahil totoo pala na ang document at taking sa AMLC. AMLC denied what Ombudsman Exc. Carandang said. Today, Sen Trillanes exposed that Mayroong cover up sa AMLC. Nakasaad pala Sa minutes by AMLC meeting last May 2016 na ito ay parte my MOA with the Ombudsman to provide documents for intelligence purposes.

    Du30 appoined Racelat last January 2017.

  6. VERY UNPATRIOTIC AND OBVIOUSLY PRO-CHINESE

    “Malacanang says Filipinos need China for Benham Rise research.”

    “Filipinos alone can’t conduct research in the resource-rich underwater plateau because they don’t have the needed capital, says Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque

    “This was how Malacanang defended the approval granted by the Philippine government to China to conduct marine scientific research in the resource-rich continental shelf east of Luzon

    As to why it was China given permission and not other countries also capable of providing the needed funding, Roque said only China “qualified” for the initiative according to fixed guidelines already set by the government.

    HO-HUM

    https://www.rappler.com/nation/194318-malacanang-filipinos-need-china-benham-rise

    • china is going to be uber rich and soon to be wealthier than most country on earth while pinas stays dirt poor.

  8. It has new types of food species for the entire chinese in China to eat. It will only take a few years for it to be barren of livings things due to over harvesting by the latter. About trust, we all know that the human amd dog eaters speak “FORK TOUNGE” as well. Allowing them to shovel foods in their always hungry mouth would maintain harmony and friendship all through the years.

    • not just for thier food consumption, the chinese also do business. they sell and export our marine food species to other countries at exorbitant prices, and dont share profits with us, the trillions and quadrillions they kept to themselves. busog sila sa kakakain at nagnenegosyo pa. may exclusive rights na yata sila sa benham rise ngayon, plundering, harvesting and doing as they like hanggang sa wala ng matitira dyan kundi lusay. then, we’ll end up having to clean up the mess and dirt they left behind.

      luging lugi tayo. yong chinese tourists and visitors coming here only netted us millions. what the chinese get from us is in the trillions and quadrillions.