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South China Sea
ChinaDiplomacy

South China Sea: risk of China flashpoints ‘high’ as rival energy projects expand, report says

  • Every claimant except the Philippines is moving forward with oil and gas projects in the disputed waters, according to US report
  • Many new projects in the resource-rich region lie at the sites of previous confrontations

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Every claimant except the Philippines is moving forward with oil and gas projects in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, according to a new US report. Photo: handout
Laura Zhou

A growing number of energy exploration projects in the disputed waters of the South China Sea will increase the chances of confrontations, particularly with Chinese patrols, according to a new report by a US think tank.

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Many rival claimants in the resource-rich region have stepped up oil and gas development. China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia have all either announced or started new offshore projects.

The South China Sea basin is estimated to hold 11 billion barrels of untapped oil and 190 trillion cubic feet (5.4 trillion cubic metres) of natural gas. But territorial disputes among China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei, as well as energy exploration in the disputed waters, have sparked regular stand-offs between law enforcement vessels, further flaring tensions among rival claimants.

In a worrying sign, many of the new projects lie in the disputed waters, some at the sites of previous confrontations, according to a report by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), which is operated by the Centre for Strategic & International Studies.

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PLA scrambles fighter jets after detecting foreign warplanes over South China Sea

PLA scrambles fighter jets after detecting foreign warplanes over South China Sea
“With the China coastguard increasing the frequency of patrols across disputed waters, the prospect of confrontation between Chinese law enforcement and oil and gas operators at many of these locations is high,” the report’s authors said.
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Energy development has long been one of the most sensitive issues in the South China Sea disputes. Hostilities escalated after the Philippines accused China of sending warships and coastguard vessels across the contested waters in the South China Sea earlier this year.
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