The Philippines claims before the UN its power over part of the South China Sea

June 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Philippines has officially presented its power over a part of the continental shelf of the South China Sea before a United Nations commission in a new episode of its long dispute with Beijing over the resources of the area.

The Undersecretary for Maritime and Ocean Affairs of the Philippines, Louis Alferez, has confirmed the presentation of this official claim before the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and that it concerns in particular a portion of the Western Palawan region.

The Philippines, on the orders of its president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has rejected China’s claims to this sea and its resources, while strengthening defense ties with the United States. His government has expressed its determination to explore the waters for energy resources, emboldened by a legal victory in 2016 — before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague — that rejected Beijing’s claims.

However, China has maintained its presence in the waterway, leading to tense clashes with Philippine vessels.

“Today we secure our future, making a statement of our exclusive right to explore and exploit natural resources,” Alférez said in a statement collected by the Philippine network ABS-CBN in which he referred to the “incidents” with China. as phenomena that “tend to eclipse the importance of what is at the bottom of the sea.”

This is the second time that the Philippines has filed such a claim after the one made in 2009 that resulted in an additional 135,506 square kilometers of seabed area for the country.