South China Sea code of conduct harder to negotiate in more ‘complicated’ situation, think tank says
- US ‘no longer neutral’ on the issue and will ‘support whoever is against China’, according to head of Chinese institute
- Progress on the code of conduct has been slow, and tensions are rising in the disputed waterway
Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said it had been more difficult than anticipated to reach a consensus on the code because of divisions over contentious issues as well as interference by the US.
“The goals and demands of the negotiating countries have changed, the situation in the South China Sea has also changed – especially after the US adjusted its policy on the South China Sea,” Wu told the Symposium on Global Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance in Sanya, Hainan province earlier this month.
“The United States is no longer neutral on the South China Sea issue and has changed [its position] to pick sides, which is troublesome,” he said, adding that the US would “support whoever is against China over the South China Sea”.
“Some countries have become proxies of the United States in the South China Sea during the code of conduct negotiations and they must reflect the US position and demands – this makes things more complicated.”
The code of conduct aims to manage tensions in the South China Sea, a resource-rich and strategically important waterway criss-crossed by overlapping claims from China and several Association of Southeast Asian Nations members.
But progress on the negotiations – which started in 2017 – has been slow, partly due to the coronavirus pandemic. Wu noted that six rounds of virtual talks had been held in the past two years and an in-person meeting also took place in Cambodia in May.