West PH Sea code of conduct to be fixture of ASEAN-China meetings - DFA

From InterAksyon (Sep 19): West PH Sea code of conduct to be fixture of ASEAN-China meetings - DFA

Discussions on a code of conduct in the South China Sea, which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea, will remain a key item on the agenda in meetings between senior officials of Association of South East Asian Nations member-states and China, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario said on Thursday.

Interviewed after defending the budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs before the Senate, Del Rosario said the code of conduct ASEAN proposes for the troubled body of water, where tensions between China and the Philippines have heightened over disputed territory, will continue to be discussed and submitted to the ministerial level.

However, he admitted uncertainty over whether a code can be agreed on anytime soon.

“I don't know,” Del Rosario said. “But I think its good news that it is now officially on the agenda.”

“And it's imperative that we come up with an instrument that's legally binding, that manages the tensions for us in the South China Sea,” he added, as he urged China to accept the necessity of a code of conduct.

“I think that China must now realize that there is a necessity for moving forward with the COC because the solidarity and the consensus is very strong at the ASEAN level that this should be done,” he said.

He also said the government is more focused on China’s concurrence with a code of conduct rather than on filing a diplomatic protest over Beijing’s incursion in the Bajo de Masinloc, or Scarborough Shoal.

“I think we have stated our position that we are giving primary focus to the COC, how to move that and how to come to an expeditious conclusion on it,” Del Rosario said.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/71080/west-ph-sea-code-of-conduct-to-be-fixture-of-asean-china-meetings---dfa