| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Gas testing stopped after China boat incident: Manila |
| 2011-03-08 |
| [Straits Times] SEISMIC testing for gas in the South China Sea by an Anglo-Filipino consortium has been halted after an incident in which Manila says two Chinese boats threatened to ram a survey ship, the government said on Monday. Last week, a Singapore-registered French-owned survey ship, conducting tests in the Reed Bank was stopped by two Chinese patrol boats. Beijing claims the area as part of its territorial waters in the South China Sea. The Philippines insists the Reed Bank is within its sovereign territory and has awarded an exploration contract to the consortium to find and extract natural gas. Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said the seismic tests would resume after the Philippines and China hold talks to resolve the dispute. Manila will send maritime affairs experts to Beijing later this week for negotiations. 'They had to pack up and reconstitute everything,' Mr Almendras told news hounds, saying it would take a few days to restart the tests. 'We have to wait, but we hope to resume.' Lieutenant-General Juancho Sabban, commander of military forces in the Western Philippines, said the Chinese ships had shadowed and threatened to ram the survey vessel. They left the area after the military sent two aircraft to the area following a request for help from the survey ship. |
| Posted by:Fred |