Experts see delay in drafting ASEAN-China Code of Conduct for the S. China Sea

MANILA – Negotiations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China for a code of conduct (COC) in the disputed South China Sea have been delayed, and experts say the original target date for its conclusion is now “out.” of the rails “due to the current situation at sea, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nguyen Hung Son, Director General and Head of the Institute for the South China Sea of ​​the Vietnam Diplomatic Academy, said that the negotiations for the COC have already been delayed for half a year, and that there have been virtually no meetings on the code. .

ASEAN and China previously agreed on a goal to conclude the COC by 2021. The first reading of the single negotiating draft on the COC negotiations was held in Penang, Malaysia in 2019.

The Philippines is the coordinator of the ASEAN-China dialogue and co-chair with China on the COC negotiations.

“It will push any deadline that ASEAN and China have indicated in the negotiation process. So I think things are looking even bleaker there,” Nguyen said Friday in a virtual talk on maritime challenges in Southeast Asia organized by the United States Embassy.

“However, it is still worth trying to reconnect China in the COC, at least to give supporting voices and multilaterism an opportunity within China to convince themselves that it is still something worth doing,” he said. .

The plaintiff countries have recently rated Chinese actions in the South China Sea, which include pointing a radar gun at a Philippine Navy ship, sinking a Vietnamese ship, and establishing administrative districts on the Paracel and Spratly islands in the disputed waters.

This, while governments are busy tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 and spread earlier this year.

Nguyen said China needs to show political will and create an environment for the search for the code of conduct, pointing to its aggressive activities in the South China Sea.

“To save the COC negotiation process, China needs to observe its behavior and activities in the South China Sea and show its will, its political will to create an environment conducive to ASEAN’s belief that the COC remains a viable investment that ASEAN needs to dress up, ”said Nguyen.

Jay Batongbacal, Director of the Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea at the University of the Philippines, said the parties have not yet come to the center of the COC discussions.

Vietnam’s questions were supposed to be discussed at the next meeting, but this was postponed due to the pandemic.

“Because of that, I am confident that the original target date for the conclusion is just off the rails,” Batongbacal said, urging ASEAN states to unite and use calm in the negotiations to communicate, identify common ground. and come to a unified agreement. position they can present to China.

Batongbacal added that the talks can be resumed, but will return to an impasse on issues if the current trend in Chinese expansionist activities continues.

“[China] It is able to resist because it considers that the different Southeast Asian nations are fragmented, but if they unify, if they achieve unified positions in the South China Sea and begin to act in a coordinated and concerted manner, I can bet that China will respond, they will adapt to that because they themselves know they don’t want to, they can’t have a hostile neighborhood, especially a neighborhood that surrounds their entire southern coast, “said Batongbacal.

Gregory Poling, Principal Investigator and Director of the Asia Maritime Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, urged ASEAN to come together to make China a “responsible stakeholder” and take steps to protect the marine environment in the Sea Southern China and preserving the livelihood of fishermen.

Poling showed images of the damage to the reef surface around the island of Pagasa, claimed by the Philippines, in 2016 and a pile of dead clams in the Panatag Shoal (Scarborough) in 2018, when Chinese vessels finished their harvest of giant clams as reported by ABS-CBN News.

“The South China Sea is becoming a wasteland. It is a cemetery. The vast majority of the shallow reef surface in the South China Sea is severely damaged. Some of them are permanently dead and if there is no cooperation to stop the scale of fishing, prevent the intentional destruction of the marine environment like this … that was specifically mentioned in the 2016 arbitration award and give time to the southern marine marine environment of China to repair itself, there will be no fish left by the time a code of conduct is finalized, ”Poling said, referring to a ruling by the United Nations court that invalidated China’s excessive claim of 9 lines in almost all waters.

Batongbacal warned that China is moving to exercise exclusive control over the resources of the South China Sea and exclude all others from enjoying its benefits, urging the next Philippine administration to prioritize marine protection when dealing with China.

“Focus on the environment first as a priority because that is the one that is suffering the damage right now. That is everyone’s common interest. Everyone would really suffer the loss of the marine environment in the South China Sea. Therefore It should be a priority, “said Batongbacal.

Nguyen noted that the pandemic did not prevent China from pursuing activities in the South China Sea and praised the Philippines for invoking its victory in arbitration court when it condemned the creation of two new districts in the South China Sea as it encompasses the Philippine territory and maritime areas. in the west of the Philippine sea.

The Western Philippine Sea is the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.

Nguyen said it shows that the Philippines has not “shattered” the ruling.

On April 30, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement protesting against the establishment of China’s “Nansha” and “Xisha” districts under the jurisdiction of a self-declared “Sansha City,” as announced by China on April 18. .

The Philippines filed diplomatic protests against China on April 22, and over the incident of the radar weapon with a Philippine Navy ship in Philippine waters.