South China Sea: Asean, Beijing agree on next step for delayed code of conduct to regulate behaviour in disputed waterway
- Second reading will be completed ‘within the year’ after first formal meeting of the negotiating parties since 2021
- Philippines and Vietnam strike separate agreement to make conclusion of ‘substantive’ code a priority
The consensus to “accelerate the consultations and complete the second reading of the text within the year” was struck in Vietnam’s Ha Long city, at the 20th meeting by senior officials from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, after talks which began last May.
A day earlier, the Philippine foreign ministry said Manila and Hanoi had agreed in a separate meeting to make the conclusion of a “substantive” code of conduct a priority. Both countries have been in major incidents with China over their competing claims.
They vowed to strengthen their collaboration on maritime issues and expressed serious concern over “unilateral activities that undermine peace and stability in the region”, the Philippine statement said.
China claims most of the waters and has significantly strengthened its grip on the area with military bases and an enhanced administrative and law enforcement presence.
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The Philippines and Vietnam – along with fellow Asean members Malaysia and Brunei – also have overlapping claims. Stand-offs and even clashes over fishery rights as well as oil and gas development are frequently reported.
However, the contest is not limited to the local parties. The US considers the South China Sea – a passage for up to 30 per cent of world trade – as critical to its Indo-Pacific strategy.
The US Navy has been conducting regular “freedom of navigation” operations near Chinese-controlled islands and reefs in the waterway, as well as carrying out naval exercises, both alone and with its allies at an increasing scale.
Apart from bringing in allies like Japan, Australia, and members of Nato into the region, the US has also enhanced military ties with the Philippines.
The two allies have just held their largest joint naval exercise in recent years and the Joe Biden administration has won the agreement of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr to use bases in the Philippines.
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Beijing insists “external powers” should be excluded. During his tenure as foreign minister, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi said China and Asean should “continue to put the initiative and ownership of the South China Sea issue in the hands of the regional countries themselves”.
The code of conduct represents the efforts of Beijing and the regional grouping to manage and prevent conflicts in the South China Sea.
But it is still far from any resolution of the complicated territorial and maritime disputes in its resource-rich waters.
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In November 2002, China and Asean signed the non-binding Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).
It called for all parties to handle disputes peacefully and “with restraint” through dialogue and consultation.
The code of conduct was a follow-up to the DOC. China and Asean drafted a negotiating text in 2018 and finished first review in 2019. There has been little progress since then.
