President Rodrigo Duterte may have officially changed the name of Benham Rise to Philippine Rise, but that hasn’t stopped China from moving to name undersea features on the Philippines’ continental shelf, something Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque spoke out against yesterday.
“We object and do not recognize the Chinese names given to some undersea features in the Philippine Rise,” Roque said.
China’s move to name undersea features has raised fears that they may be claiming more maritime territory.
Roque said Manila’s embassy in Beijing had “raised our concern” over China’s submission of names for five undersea features on the ridge to the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO).
The 13-million-hectare underwater land mass, believed to be rich in maritime resources, is in the Pacific Ocean, 250 kilometers off the main Philippine island of Luzon.
In 2012, the United Nations recognized the Philippines’ exclusive economic rights to it as part of its continental shelf.
Despite this, Roque said China had submitted the names for five features there to a special IHO naming subcommittee in 2015 and 2017.
Duterte was criticized for allowing China, a claimant in the South China Sea dispute, to explore an area where only the Philippines has sovereign rights over. The UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected China’s claims to most of the disputed South China Sea in 2016, but Duterte has ignored this decision since assuming power.
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Earlier this month, Duterte responded to criticism that he’s too sympathetic to China by banning all foreign scientific exploration at Philippine Rise, but only after the Chinese had finished their latest survey.
with reports from AFP
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