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China on Friday said with the United Nation body’s award, the Philippines can explore and develop the natural resources in Benham Rise located in Philippine Sea, a sovereign right, but cannot take the region as its own territory.

“The UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) approved the submission made by the Philippines in 2009 in respect of the limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles in the Benham Rise region, enabling the Philippines to carry out exploration and development of natural resources in this region,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said during March 10 press conference.

“But it does not mean that the Philippines can take it as its own territory,” he added. The Chinese spokesperson also confirmed that “Chinese vessels for marine research did sail across relevant waters to the northeast of Luzon, the Philippines last year, exercising navigation freedoms and the right to innocent passage only, without conducting any other activities or operations.”

In April 2009, the Philippines submitted to (CLCS), in accordance with Article 76, paragraph 8 of the UNCLOS, information on the limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines (also known as exclusive economic zone) from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured in the Benham Rise region. In April 2012, Philippines’ claim over Benham Rise was approved.

According to UNCLOS, “the continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural prolongation of its land territory to the outer dge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea.”

Moreover, Article 77 Paragraph 1 of UNCLOS says “the coastal State exercises over the continental shelf sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring it and exploiting its natural resources.”

Further, Article 78 Paragraph 2 says “the exercise of the rights of the coastal State over the continental shelf must not infringe or result in any unjustifiable interference with navigation and other rights and freedoms of other States as provided for in this Convention.”

The UNCLOS only grants a coastal State in its EEZ “sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, of the waters superjacent to the seabed and of the seabed and its subsoil, and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds.”

It also grants the State “jurisdiction as provided for in the relevant provisions of this Convention with regard to: the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations and structures; marine scientific research; the protection and preservation of the marine environment.”