Beijing and Asean’s long-awaited South China Sea code of conduct inches forward
- Resumed negotiations lead to progress after talks on the long-awaited code were stalled by the Covid-19 pandemic
- China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi warns his Asean counterparts against US interference in the contested waterway
During a virtual summit with his counterparts from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Tuesday, Wang also warned against “external interference” in the South China Sea, in a pointed rebuke to the US. Up to a third of world trade passes through the contentious waters, which are subject to a number of competing claims.
The resumed negotiations on the code of conduct – including agreement on its preface – “demonstrated once again that as long as the common political will to move forward with consultations is maintained, no difficulty can stand in our way, whether it be a raging epidemic or external interference,” Wang said, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout.
Wang said Beijing would never make further claims in the South China Sea and promised that China would not take any unilateral moves to intensify disputes over the waterway.
“At the same time, we must be vigilant that individual extra-regional countries are openly intervening in territorial and maritime disputes in the region, sowing discord between China and Asean countries, sending a large number of advanced ships and aircraft to provoke around, and have become the biggest spoilers of peace and stability in the South China Sea,” he said.
“The South China Sea is not, and should not become, a gladiatorial arena for great power games, and we cannot allow them to undermine the good situation of peace and stability in the region.”