Asean summit: South China Sea disputes in focus as Philippines calls for a code of conduct

Amid increasing Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, the Philippines has called for the finalisation of the Asean-China Code of Conduct (COC).

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and China are working on a code of conduct for the South China Sea, which is at the centre of China’s hegemonic designs for the Indo-Pacific. China illegally claims the entire South China Sea as its own and has frequently attacked with Filipino vessels in the region.

In an address to the 27th Asean-China Summit in Laos, Filipino President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr said that there should be more “urgency in the pace of the negotiations” of the code of conduct.

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The idea of the code of conduct was first floated in 2002 but the talks formally began only in 2017 and have progressed very slowly.

‘We continue to face harassment & intimidation’

At the Asean-China Summit, Marcos said that it was regrettable that the “overall situation in the South China Sea remains tense and unchanged”.

“We continue to be subjected to harassment and intimidation. Parties must be earnestly open to seriously managing the differences and to reduce tensions," said Macros.

China’s continued aggression showed the “continued disregard of international law and standards, particularly UNCLOS and the 1972 Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS)”.

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“Such behavior is not unnoticed by our respective publics and the international community as well. That they will require a concerted and urgent effort to adopt measures to prevent their recurrence," said Marcos.

In 2016, the UNCLOS tribunal rejected China’s claims in the South China Sea, but China continues to defy the ruling and clash with countries in the region as it militarises its region as part of the hegemonic campaign in the broader Indo-Pacific region.

Asean Summit in China’s shadow

The Asean Summit, as well as the meetings on the sidelines, such as the East Asia Summit, are taking place in the shadow of the Chinese aggression.

For the East Asia Summit, the Asean leaders will be joined on Thursday by Prime Minister Modi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, new Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

In the shadow of China’s increasing belligerence, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will meet Japanese PM Ishiba on Thursday to continue the momentum in security and economic relations. Yoon has pushed for a closer cooperation between South Korea and Japan to ramp up security cooperation with the United States to counter Chinese designs in the region.