. Space Travel News .




.
ENERGY TECH
Philippines protests to China over oil rig plan
by Staff Writers
Manila (AFP) June 1, 2011

The Philippines said Wednesday it had formally protested to Beijing over recent activity in disputed waters of the South China Sea and Chinese plans to anchor an oil rig there.

China's charge d'affaires in Manila was summoned to the foreign ministry on Tuesday to hear the government's concerns over actions by the Chinese military in the South China Sea, a ministry statement said.

The foreign ministry said it "requested clarification from the Chinese embassy on the recent sightings of a China Marine Surveillance vessel and other People's Liberation Army Navy ships".

It said it was acting on information from the Philippine military, which reported that the Chinese vessels unloaded building materials, erected an undetermined number of posts, and placed a buoy.

The ministry said it had on Friday conveyed to Chinese embassy officials its concern over reports in Chinese state media about Beijing's plans to install its most advanced oil rig in the South China Sea next month.

"During this meeting, the (foreign ministry) asked the Chinese embassy for the exact planned location of the mega oil rig and pointed that it should not be placed in Philippine territory or its waters," it added.

The buoy had been placed near the Amy Douglas Bank, which was was "well within the Philippines' 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone", it said.

The Philippine side said the posts and buoy were about 26 nautical miles from Flat Island, one of the outcrops in the Spratlys archipelago occupied by the Philippines, and 125 nautical miles from the Philippine island of Palawan.

"In both meetings, the Philippines and China reiterated their respective commitment to the maintenance of peace and stability in the area, and to work together to maintain good bilateral relations," the statement said.

Chinese embassy spokesmen were not answering their phones Wednesday, but China is known to claim all of both the Spratly and the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea as well as their adjacent waters.

Any construction in the area violated a 2002 agreement signed by China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said.

Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all lay claim to all or part of the Spratlys, which are thought to be rich in oil reserves.

The agreement commits the parties -- excluding Taiwan, which was not a signatory -- to respecting freedom of navigation in the area, exercising restraint, and to resolving their territorial disputes without resort to the threat or use of force.

The alleged incidents occurred just before a visit to Manila by Chinese Defence Minister Liang Guanglie last week, when he and his Filipino counterpart pledged to avoid "unilateral actions" that could inflame tensions in the area.

In March, the Philippines complained that Chinese patrol boats had harassed a Philippine oil exploration vessel in disputed waters near the Spratlys.

It subsequently filed a formal protest at the United Nations over China's claims to the Spratly islands and adjacent South China Sea waters.




Related Links
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com

.
Get Our Free Newsletters Via Email
...
Buy Advertising Editorial Enquiries






. Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle



ENERGY TECH
Northrop Grumman Supplies Navigation Upgrades for Oil Tankers
Charlottesville VA (SPX) Jun 01, 2011
Northrop Grumman has supplied electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) for 12 BP oil tankers. Northrop Grumman's Sperry Marine business unit installed four of its new-generation VisionMaster FT ECDIS workstations on each of the 12 ships, supplementing their existing Sperry Marine integrated bridge system installations, including radars, autopilots and gyrocompasses. T ... read more


ENERGY TECH
Payload processing underway for ASTRA 1N

Cosmica Spacelines And XCOR Aerospace Tout Suborbital Payload Flight Opportunties

Should India Go Suborbital

ASTRA 1N delivered to French Guiana

ENERGY TECH
Opportunity Spies Outcrop Ahead

A mole to explore the interior of Mars

Mars Formed Rapidly into Runt of Planetary Litter

NASA's Spirit Rover Completes Mission on Mars

ENERGY TECH
Parts of moon interior as wet as Earth's upper mantle

NASA-Funded Scientists Make Watershed Lunar Discovery

Moon may have more water than believed: study

President Kennedy's Speech and America's Next Moonshot Moment

ENERGY TECH
'Dwarf planet' is covered in crystal ice

Carbon monoxide detected around Pluto

The PI's Perspective: Pinch Me!

Later, Uranus: New Horizons Passes Another Planetary Milestone

ENERGY TECH
Second Rocky World Makes Kepler-10 a Multi-Planet System

Kepler's Astounding Haul of Multiple-Planet Systems Just Keeps Growing

Bennett team discovers new class of extrasolar planets

Climate scientists reveal new candidate for first habitable exoplanet

ENERGY TECH
U.K. spaceplane passes technical review

J-2X Test Series Proves Part Integrity

UMaine Students Test Wireless Sensors on Rocket

Next-generation US space racers outline plans

ENERGY TECH
China's Fengyun-3B satellite goes into official operation

Venezuela, China to launch satellite next year

Top Chinese scientists honored with naming of minor planets

China sees smooth preparation for launch of unmanned module

ENERGY TECH
CU-Boulder to participate in NASA mission to land on an asteroid

ASU to build mineral survey instrument

NASA aims to grab asteroid time capsule

NASA Selects OSIRIS-REx as Next New Frontiers Mission


Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News
.

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2011 - Space Media Network. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement