China’s ‘Missile Triangle’ consists of Woody Island in the Paracels, and Fiery Cross Reef and Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratlys. The US ‘Base Triangle’ consists of Subic Naval Base and Clark Field Airbase in Luzon, and Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan. Smack in the middle, sandwiched by the two giant military forces is Reed Bank, where lies 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas, 25% more than Malampaya. Can a priceless source of energy induce peace rather than war? It depends on a perceived Filipino-Chinese-British trilateral partnership, if that is not a tall order.
The US ‘Base Triangle’ consists of Subic Naval Base and Clark Field Airbase in Luzon, and Antonio Bautista Air Base in Palawan, which are part of the 5-identified bases in the recent Supreme-Court-endorsed Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which in turn is complimentary to the Philippine-US mutual defence agreement Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
Right smack in the middle is Reed Bank (Recto) where the multi-billion-peso exploration of a Philippine-British consortium (Philex Petroleum Corp. and Forum Energy Plc.) was recently stopped by the Department of Energy, upon recommendation of the Department of Foreign Affairs, due to the ongoing Philippine territorial claims at a UN court, which is expected to be decided upon in early 2017.
Location of Reed Bank
Reed Bank, a mere 70 nautical miles from Zambales, is part of the Philippine’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as provided by the UN Conference of Law of Sea (UNCLOS). However, a recent Philippine Baseline Law lessens our territorial claims and weakens the UNCLOS provision.
According to 3D seismic surveys of a UK-based energy exploration firm in 2006, there are 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas in Recto, 21% more than that in Malampaya. Gas benefits our energy needs because it cannot be easily exported in large volume as much as oil through pipelines. China earlier filed a protest with the Philippines concerning the Reed Bank exploration.
Is a trilateral partnership among China, the Philippines, and Britain possible? This is the key to peace — bread not bullets, our military alliance with the US descending and our economic alliance with China ascending, a sparrow perched on the bear’s shoulder and flying with the eagle wingtip to wingtip. There were previous talks of a mining partnership between Philex and the China National Offshore Oil Co. Ltd. (CNOOC).