A. Soaring oil prices have raised the stakes China's game of brinkmanship over the holty disputed Spratly islands, with the Philippines this week becoming the first rival claimant to break ranks.
B. In a separate development, Beijing reacted with unusual restraint to Vietnam's announced plans to begin regular air services to another Spratlys atoll within months, indicating that the feuding neighbors may have reached an accommodation on the issue.
C. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal - Arroyo and her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao agreed at talks in Beijing jointly to study potential oil deposits in the South China Sea atolls as part of a three year research project involving two state energy firms.
D. A communique by the Philippine government went to great pains to emphasis that the pact did not imply that the two countries, whose naval forces have clashed over the contested reefs, would proceed past the drilling stage.
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