South China Sea Code of Conduct (Photo : Getty Images)
On Tuesday, Philippine Acting Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said that China and the Southeast Asian countries have made advancements in negotiations on a code of conduct for disputed waters.
China asserts its territory on nearly all of the sea. Other Asian countries including Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, also claim parts of the South China Sea.
Annually, sea-borne products, amounting to about $5 trillion, pass the disputed waters.
"We have made good progress on coming up with a framework for a code of conduct with China," Manalo said.
He added that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China were past the middle of the identification of the contents of the code of conduct.
"From a scale of 1-10, we are at the upper level. Remember, we were starting from zero in January. There have been a number of elements agreed and we would definitely have a framework on which to embark a serious negotiation on a code of conduct," the acting foreign minister said.
In the last two months, Chinese and ASEAN negotiators have come together in Indonesia and Cambodia, trying to furnish a final draft. If successful, the final draft can be approved prior the meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Manila this coming August.
Manila has also scheduled negotiations with Beijing next month to discuss "issues of concern regarding the South China Sea." The agenda will include the China’s militarization of several manmade islands in the Spratly Islands, which have resulted in protests from the United States, the Philippines and Vietnam.
China holds two dialogues with claimant states – one it through bilateral talks while the other is with Vietnam.
Beijing’s South China Sea ambitions are on the agenda of the Xi-Trump meeting. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet on Thursday and Friday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Claimant countries are looking forward to the approval of the code of conduct for disputed waters.
