'Toothless' code seen as victory for Beijing

A landmark Asean proposal to govern tensions in the South China Sea lacks any new enforcement measures - an outcome some diplomats and analysts say represents a potential diplomatic victory for Beijing.

For months, China's envoys have courted individual states within the Association of South East Asian Nations to limit the grouping's role in South China Sea disputes, which Beijing insists should be handled via one-to-one talks with claimants.

Asean's draft of its Code of Conduct was completed this week and handed to Beijing for input, amid a push to finalise it by the end of the year. A copy of 'elements of the code' seen by the South China Morning Post shows it ties dispute resolution measures to the UN's Law of the Sea and Asean's existing provisions.

'Of course we expect China to further weaken it and object to some things, but right now there is nothing in there that is really going to annoy Beijing,' said one veteran Asean envoy. 'You could say it lacks punch and in that regard is at least a partial victory for Beijing's diplomatic manoeuvring. But at least we are keeping them at the table.'

The South China Sea is expected to dominate Asean's Regional Forum on security starting today, with Japan set to toughen its stance, diplomats say. That follows yesterday's formal Asean-China ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh, which was attended by Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and deputy Fu Ying.

China and the Asean powers 10 years ago agreed on a broadly defined declaration of conduct for the South China Sea, which Fu said calls for consideration of a code of conduct 'when the time is ripe'.

'But Minister Yang stressed a very important point: the declaration is agreed by all of us [China and Asean] and it requires all of us to implement. For instance, if there are countries not abiding by the declaration, then it would not be conducive towards enhancing mutual trust, and also not constructive in moving us towards the discussion of a code of conduct.'