MANILA – China calls the Philippines’ efforts to approach neighbour countries Malaysia and Vietnam to “make their own code of conduct” in the South China Sea “null and void”.
According to Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperon Mao Ning in a regular press briefing, Beijing warns that “any departure from the DOC framework and its spirit will be null and void.”
In a livestreamed event in Hawaii, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said that “progress has been rather slow unfortunately” in formulating a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea between China and ASEAN.
"We have taken the initiative to approach those other countries around ASEAN with whom we have existing territorial conflicts, Vietnam being one of them, Malaysia being another and to make our own code of conduct,” Marcos said.
Marcos is also optimistic that “this will grow further and extend to other ASEAN countries.”
Meanwhile, China claims that formulating a code of conduct in the South China Sea is an important task for China and ASEAN countries, but it stressed that any deviation from this will be considered invalid.
Last Friday, Marcos met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in San Francisco and discussed ways to reduce tensions in the South China Sea after a number of incidents involving shadowing and blocking of Philippine vessels undergoing resupply missions for soldiers stationed on the military vessel BRP Sierra Madre beached on the Ayungin Shoal by Chinese coast guard vessels.
China and ASEAN started working on creating a framework to negotiate a code of conduct on the South China Sea way back in 2002.
