China wants all the resources in West Philippine Sea

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) – Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, in an exclusive interview with CNN Philippines on Thursday (November 25), said the maritime dispute in the South China Sea is a clash over resources.
For China, it's about asserting itself as a regional power by controlling the area.
"Definitely China wants all the resources in the South China Sea. They want all the fish, all the oil and gas," Carpio said.
"That's why when we tried to bid out internationally areas three and 4 four in the Reed Bank they sent us note verbale. They said 'we own areas three and four in the Reed Bank.' In fact, the entire Reed Bank, that's their position. So it's a fight over resources."
Carpio said China might influence countries around the South China Sea if it could control resources in the area.
Located northwest of Palawan, the Reed Bank or Recto Bank is the site of an oil drilling project by Forum Energy which Philex Petroleum is a majority owner.
But government temporarily stopped the service contract on December 2014 as the drilling site is within the disputed area subject to a United Nations arbitration.
The arbitral tribunal ruled it has jurisdiction over the country's case against China.
But Carpio said the country shouldn't eagerly lift the moratorium on oil drilling because of the ruling.
"The case has not been finished yet. We have to wait for the outcome. It's still pending," said Carpio.
He added: "If the tribunal rules that the Reed Bank belongs to the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, then of course we have all the right to proceed, because under the law of the sea, we have the exclusive right to exploit our EEZ.

China to move beyond South China Sea?

According to Carpio, there are also speculations that after securing South China Sea, China will move beyond the first island chain in the Western Pacific.
The Supreme Court justice said he doesn't know if China will do that, but that seems to be the direction China is taking.
"If they do that, if they can control the South China Sea economically and militarily, then there will be no law of the sea anymore. There will be no UNCLOS.," Carpio said. "That's why we went to the tribunal and asked the tribunal to apply the law of the sea in South China Sea."
Carpio said the Permanent Court of Arbitration's ruling on jurisdiction could be considered as "an initial victory for the Philippines." He adds it's "the ruling that we wanted."
On the seven submissions that the tribunal deferred ruling, he said: "They have to know the facts. We have not presented the facts. Doesn't mean anything really. We expected that."
He said the Philippines could expect a ruling not later than mid-2016.
He also believes the tribunal will rule that China cannot claim the entire South China Sea, but it will be limited to what UNCLOS allows them, which is 200 nautical miles from its coast line.

By Anjo Alimario, CNN Philippines