Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands) of China: news

China asks Southeast Asian nations to cooperate in tapping oil
Nov 18, 2004 05:23:00 PM

.BEIJING FES81

Anil K Joseph
Beijing, Nov 18 (PTI) China, which is facing an energy crunch, today urged Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations to agree for "joint development" of the disputed South China Sea area so as to tap the unexploited natural resources there, including oil and gas.

"We are ready to conduct cooperation with other countries, including Vietnam in ASEAN on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. We should actively explore how to conduct joint development work in the disputed waters of the South China Sea," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said.

Brushing aside Vietnam's reported protest against a recent bilateral agreement between China and the Philippines to explore oil around the Spratlys in the South China Sea area, Zhang said the pact was in conformity with the code of conduct signed between China and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2002.

"It is true that China and the Philippines signed an oil cooperation agreement on jointly developing the seismic survey work in the region. The purpose of this agreement is to study and assess the oil and energy in the region," Zhang said.

"It is actually an important move for the two countries to implement the principles in the code of conduct of all the parties in the declaration of the South China Sea," she said. PTI

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