China and ASEAN aim to finish by the middle of next year a framework for a code of conduct to ease tension in the disputed South China Sea, state media said yesterday.
Since 2010, China and the 10 members of the ASEAN have been discussing a set of rules aimed at avoiding conflict among rival claimants in the busy waterway.
Last month, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China had no historic title over the South China Sea and had breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights there.
The decision infuriated Beijing, which dismissed the court’s authority.
However, Beijing has been keen to get diplomacy back on track since.
Meeting in northeastern China, the two sides agreed to get the framework for the code of conduct done by the middle of next year, and also approved guidelines for a China-ASEAN hotline for use during maritime emergencies, the official China Daily said.
They also agreed that a pact on unplanned maritime encounters, signed in 2014 by countries in the region, applied to the South China Sea, the newspaper added.
Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Liu Zhenmin (劉振民) said documents on the hotline and unplanned encounters would be presented for final approval to leaders in Laos next month at a meeting between China and ASEAN members, the paper said.
“There is another achievement — we reached broad consensus on pushing forward the negotiations on a code of conduct for the South China Sea,” it quoted Liu as saying.
“All sides agreed to raise the frequency of the negotiations in a situation without interference, and seek to finish a draft framework of the code of conduct by the middle of next year,” he added.
This is the third meeting on the code this year.
“It shows that as the situation in the South China Sea is getting more and more complicated, especially with the interference of external forces, ASEAN countries and China have realized that we have to grasp the key to the South China Sea issue in our own hand,” Liu said.
China has accused the US and its allies in the region, such as Japan and Australia, of stoking tension in the South China Sea.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea. Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also have claims in the sea.
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