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The huge natural resource find happens to be under Vietnam’s part of the South China Sea. Beijing has the whole planet excited about their “discovery of the world’s first large, ultra-shallow gas field in ultra-deep waters.” Vietnam just found out that they should be hopping mad the Chinese stuck a big straw in their gas pocket. The Pooh Bear doesn’t care who claims what. Xi Jinping is doing what he wants where he wants. He has bigger missiles than anyone else in the region, so nobody has serious plans to stop him.
China snatches assets
China recently announced “the discovery of the world’s first large, ultra-shallow gas field in ultra-deep waters.” The problem is that it’s not their waters.
“One of the great things,” The Telegraph writes, “about ignoring international law and violently snatching other people’s territory is that it pays off.” In this case, to the tune of $15 billion dollars.
The natural gas bubble, China relates, lies below 630 feet of rock. It’s also under 4,500 feet of water. That’s nearly a mile.
China announced the discovery of a large, ultra-shallow gas field in the South China Sea. The field is named Lingshui 36-1, southeast of Hainan Island, China’s southernmost province.https://t.co/jwsbsVFWm2
— NTD News (@NTDNews) August 10, 2024
They call it the Lingshui 36-1 gas field and China’s state-run National Offshore Oil Corporation is ready to stick a straw in it. They have “seemingly overcome the technical challenges inherent in reaching it.”
Estimates suggest that the pocket contains more than 3.53 trillion cubic feet of the hydrocarbon. The current market value is around $15 billion. While that’s not in the global top ten, it comes close.
The only snag is that “it probably doesn’t legally belong to China.” It’s under Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Up until now, Beijing has been cagey about the exact location. Now, we know why.
The Paracel Islands
Beijing recently admitted that the exact location of Lingshui 36-1 is in the Paracel Island chain. Up until now, they’ve only described it as “in waters southeast of Hainan, China’s southernmost island province.”
The Paracels are “occupied by China but also claimed by both Vietnam and Taiwan.” Taiwan doesn’t really count because they’re actually a Chinese territory to start with.
The Chinese thought they kicked the Vietnamese out of those islands with “a brief naval battle against South Vietnam in 1974.” It wasn’t the final answer. “The islands’ actual ownership remains hotly contested.” China isn’t too worried about Vietnamese claims to their gas pocket. They claim more than the Paracels. Xi Jinping thinks he owns “everything up to the infamous ‘Nine Dash Line.‘”
CNOOC confirms over 100 Bcm in “world first” Lingshui 36-1 gas field offshore China. CNOOC has been searching for offshore oil and gas resources in the South China Sea for decades. https://t.co/PFHnxFmUZl
— HasPop.eu (@HasPopEU) August 8, 2024
That means “basically the whole South China Sea, regardless of the rights of the other nations around it.” Now we know why they sent their “Monster” Coast Guard ship to anchor nearby. It’s in a place where it can defend both Second Thomas Shoal and their new gas interests in the Paracels.
It’s clear to the experts that China’s “recent behavior to its maritime neighbors makes it clear that it is prepared to trample on anyone, using force if necessary, who gets in the way.”
Everyone else in the region is scrambling to upgrade their Navies but they’re never going to come close to the firepower China can use against any of them. It’s looking like they’re going to have all the gas siphoned away before anyone can stop them.
