China and Southeast Asian countries have made progress in talks on a code of conduct for the disputed South China Sea, although the query of whether it’s legally binding still stays unresolved, the acting foreign secretary of the Philippines said on Tuesday.
China claims almost your complete waterway, where roughly $5 trillion price of maritime goods go through annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam even have claims.
“We have made significant progress in developing a framework for a code of conduct with China,” Acting Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said, adding that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China were greater than halfway to finalizing the content.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, we’re at a better level. Remember that in January we began from scratch. We have agreed many elements and we will surely have a framework on which to begin serious negotiations on a code of conduct agreement.”
Negotiators from China and ASEAN have met in Indonesia and Cambodia over the past two months to attempt to hammer out a final draft that might be approved before the August meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Manila.
“I believe China still believes and still takes the position that it mustn’t be legally binding. Honestly, from a negotiation standpoint, I believe it is a bit too early to speak about it,” Manalo added.
As the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) works to finish the framework by June, talks are scheduled with Beijing next month to handle “problems with concern regarding the South China Sea,” including China’s militarization of several artificial islands within the Spratly Islands – which the Philippines, the United States have opposed United States and Vietnam.
The bilateral mechanism is certainly one of two dialogues conducted by China with the claimant countries. The second one concerns Vietnam.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to debate China’s ambitions within the South China Sea after they meet tomorrow and Friday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Source : Reuters | Filipino global star
