Asean on right track

BEIJING: Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, whose country chairs The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said yesterday his country is confident Asean countries will work out a framework for a code of conduct in the South China Sea by June or July.

He said the South China Sea issue was not the sum total of relations between his country and China. In fact, countries directly concerned have returned to the right track over the issue despite an ill-founded arbitration award unilaterally initiated by the former Philippine government led by then President Benigno Aquino III, he added.