ASEAN, China ministers to endorse South China Sea code of conduct framework  

July 31, 2017

Foreign Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China will endorse a framework document to shape formal negotiations for a regional code of conduct in the disputed South China Sea, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday. Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said the document, called the Framework of a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, will be one of the major documents of the weeklong ASEAN ministerial meeting hosted by the Philippines. The ASEAN ministerial meeting and post-ministerial conference meetings, including the ASEAN regional forum will be held on August 2 to 8 in Manila. The ARF will be attended by the 10 ASEAN Foreign Ministers and their counterparts from its 17 regional partners, including the US, Japan, China, Australia, Russia, South Korea, and North Korea. Bolivar said the framework on the code of conduct will be approved at the ASEAN-China ministerial meeting on Aug. 6. “It’s about cementing the commitment (for a code of conduct) that’s why it is being endorsed by the ministers. There’s a political will if ministers will endorse it,” Bolivar said in an interview. After the endorsement of the ministers of ASEAN and China, he said the framework would be elevated to the leaders, who will note the approval and instruct both sides to take steps toward negotiations for a Code of Conduct. “We expect that the joint working group will begin discussions on the actual code of conduct as soon as the approval of the framework is finished,” Bolivar said. A regional code of conduct aims to prevent conflicting territorial claims in the region from erupting into confrontations. China and ASEAN, which groups the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, settled for a mere declaration in 2002 that calls on claimants to exercise restraint and stop new occupation in the South China Sea. Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano earlier hinted that the Philippines is open to an accord not legally-binding if it will hamper the negotiations. DMS