China is once again ready to accelerate the conclusion of an “effective and substantive” Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, its top diplomat in Manila said.
Ambassador Huang Xilian said China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) “are capable and wise enough to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.”
ASEAN and China have resumed discussions on the long-planned CoC. The three-day dialog, which concludes today gathered diplomats from the region, including those from five out of six claimant counties in the SCS, namely China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
Taiwan is also a claimant but is not a member state of ASEAN.
China echoed the statement it said in February, when Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Jakarta, part of the flurry of diplomatic exchanges and phone conversations that Qin has undertaken since taking the post late last year.
Huang said Beijing is one with ASEAN in seeking a COC that is anchored on international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“China is ready to work with ASEAN countries to accelerate the negotiation on a code of conduct at an early date. And we hope that we can strive to reach a regional norm that is effective, substantive, and in line with international law, including the UNCLOS,” he said.
Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza said this week’s talks hosted by Manila is the third round of COC negotiations this year. The first two were in Jakarta in March and Vietnam in May.
China continues to reject a 2016 arbitral ruling which invalidated its massive claim over almost the entire South China Sea.
In May, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said all ASEAN member-states raised the COC issue during the regional body’s summit in Indonesia.
“We’re waiting for the continued work being developed, that is being done to develop the framework for the Code of Conduct. Almost all of us in ASEAN brought it up,” the President said.
“We hope the COC will be put in place so that all countries, including China, will have clear positions on what to do, what are the rules… We are all hopeful that COC negotiations will be concluded at the earliest possible time,” Mr. Marcos said.