Code of Conduct talks set to start

Asean and China agree to begin negotiations on South China Sea issues during a meeting in Manila.

MANILA: Leaders of South-East Asian countries and China have agreed to begin negotiations on a “code of conduct” aimed at controlling aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea, a step they described as a milestone, but some experts said was unlikely to ensure compliance.

Leaders from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) will also sign an accord protecting migrant workers coming from poorer countries in the region during a two-day summit that opened yesterday in Manila, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said.

The Asean leaders will express “grave concern” over North Korea’s development of “weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear and chemical weapons, and ballistic missile technologies” and strongly condemn terrorism, according to a draft of a summit communique seen by The Associated Press.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said China and the 10 Asean countries agreed to start negotiations on the code of conduct and would release more details soon.

A separate statement issued after a meeting between the Asean leaders and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the approval last August of a framework for the code of conduct was “an important milestone”, and both sides anticipated an early conclusion of the agreement.

“While the situation is calmer now, we cannot take the current progress for granted,” the leaders said in the draft statement.

It is “important that we cooperate to maintain peace, stability, freedom of navigation in and over-flight above the South China Sea in line with international law,” they said.

“It is in our collective interest to avoid miscalculations that could lead to escalation of tensions.”

But Gregory Poling, a South China Sea expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said: “The idea that this is going to lead to a binding way to manage things like fisheries depletion and oil and gas development or coast guard cooperation is a fantasy and Beijing knows that.”

“It took 15 years to negotiate a one-page outline that just restated the exact same thing they’re going to do with DOC,” he said, referring to a non-binding Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea that was signed in 2002.

“If you look at the framework agreement signed earlier this year, there’s nothing there.”

China has opposed a legally binding code, and South-East Asian diplomats said even Asean is not unanimous in seeking a binding set of rules.

China, Taiwan and four Asean member states – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – have overlapping claims in the waterway, which straddles busy international sea lanes and potentially has vast undersea deposits of oil and gas. — AP