MANILA: ASEAN and China have reached provisional agreement on about 80 per cent of the negotiating text for a long-awaited South China Sea Code of Conduct, Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro said on Sunday (Nov 15).
Speaking at a press conference after the first day of the 49th ASEAN Leaders’ Summit in Manila, Lazaro said the parties had agreed to continue working constructively to conclude negotiations on an effective and substantive code as soon as possible.
“Definitely, there is no conclusion yet,” Lazaro told reporters.
Lazaro said differing positions among ASEAN member states and China, as well as the time needed for negotiations, had prevented the agreement from being finalised this year.
“If we were given probably another five to six months, we can finish that,” she said.
The Philippines, which holds ASEAN’s rotating chairmanship this year, had made concluding the negotiations by the end of 2026 a key priority.
Lazaro noted that the Philippines had made substantial progress, raising the proportion of agreed text from about 50 per cent to 80 per cent.
Singapore takes over the bloc’s chairmanship in 2027, and Lazaro expressed confidence that negotiations could be concluded next year.
“I trust that Singapore will be able to finish the discussions,” she said.
The Code of Conduct is intended to establish rules to manage tensions in the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing’s expansive maritime claims overlap with those of several Southeast Asian nations.
The Philippines and China have repeatedly clashed in the waterway, one of the world’s major shipping routes.
Other ASEAN countries, namely Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei, also have overlapping claims with China. While Indonesia is not a claimant state, its North Natuna waters, which lie on the edge of the South China Sea, have also seen clashes between the Indonesian coast guard and Chinese fishing boats.
Lazaro said negotiators had reached a provisional agreement on how the existing 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) relates to the proposed Code of Conduct.
Under the agreement, the declaration would provide the foundation for the new code, which would establish more substantive provisions to guide the conduct of parties in the waterway.
The parties also agreed that the code would serve as a platform for practical maritime cooperation and a mechanism to manage differences at sea, rather than settle competing territorial claims, Lazaro said.
The Philippines oversaw nine rounds of negotiations and two senior officials’ meetings this year, with Malaysia and China co-chairing the Code of Conduct negotiations.
