PH, China to hold 'exploratory' talks for oil and gas venture

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 30) — The Philippines and China are set to resume "exploratory" discussions on a possible joint oil and gas venture in the West Philippine Sea, according to Manila's top diplomat.

In an interview shared with reporters on Thursday, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo confirmed that Beijing has reached out and proposed to hold meetings anew on the matter.

"I think we will begin in maybe around six weeks, but as I said at a technical level," Manalo said. "But those talks are going to begin discussing basically terms of reference, there's no document yet."

"It's a meeting, you can say exploratory or scoping, or seeing the scope of the discussion and we'll see where it goes," he added.

Before passing the baton to the new government last year, former President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered the complete termination of the joint oil and gas exploration talks between the Philippines and China.

Then-DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. cited how the goal of developing the resources of the contested waterway was not achieved — years after both parties inked a memorandum of understanding in 2018.

When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took the reins, the administration said it would study the resumption of the joint venture with the East Asian giant. Marcos also personally told Chinese President Xi Jinping that the Philippines wants to continue the negotiations.

Manalo said the government will "always be guided by the requirements of the Constitution" when it comes to holding the talks with their counterparts.

He added that the initial meeting will likely be attended by the countries' maritime officials.

China also confirmed that the camps had agreed to resume discussions during the governments' previous engagements.

"The two sides are in communication on the early resumption of the talks," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.