By Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema
MANILA (Reuters) -The&nbsp;Philippines&nbsp;has approached&nbsp;neighbours&nbsp;such as Malaysia and Vietnam to discuss a separate&nbsp;code&nbsp;of conduct regarding the&nbsp;South&nbsp;China&nbsp;Sea, its president said on Monday, citing limited progress towards striking a broader regional pact with&nbsp;China.
Relations between the two have grown more tense under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who has increasingly complained about&nbsp;China's "aggressive" behaviour while rekindling strong ties with the&nbsp;Philippines' sole treaty ally, the United States.
Speaking in Hawaii at a livestreamed event, Marcos said escalating tension in the&nbsp;South&nbsp;China&nbsp;Sea&nbsp;required the&nbsp;Philippines&nbsp;to partner with allies and&nbsp;neighbours&nbsp;to maintain peace in the busy waterway, with the situation now "more dire".
"We are still waiting for the&nbsp;code&nbsp;of conduct between&nbsp;China&nbsp;and ASEAN and the progress has been rather slow unfortunately," Marcos said, referring to efforts by the grouping of&nbsp;Southeast Asian nations.
"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&nbsp;code&nbsp;of conduct.
"Hopefully this will grow further and extend to other ASEAN countries."
The embassies of&nbsp;China, Malaysia and Vietnam in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on a possible&nbsp;code.
China&nbsp;said formulating a&nbsp;code&nbsp;of conduct in the&nbsp;South&nbsp;China&nbsp;Sea&nbsp;was an important task for it and ASEAN countries.
But a spokesperson of its foreign ministry warned at a regular press briefing, "Any move that deviates from the framework and runs counter to the spirit of the declaration on the conduct of parties (DOC) in the&nbsp;South&nbsp;China&nbsp;Sea&nbsp;is null and void."
The remarks by Marcos followed his meeting on Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco.
The leaders discussed ways to reduce tension in the disputed strategic waters after a series of confrontations this year.
In the past few years, ASEAN and&nbsp;China&nbsp;have worked towards creating a framework to negotiate a&nbsp;code&nbsp;of conduct, a plan dating as far back as 2002. But progress has been slow despite commitments by all parties to advance and speed the process.
ON-OFF CONFRONTATIONS
Talks on components of the&nbsp;code&nbsp;have yet to start, with concerns about how far&nbsp;China, which claims ownership of most of the&nbsp;South&nbsp;China&nbsp;Sea, is committed to a binding set of rules that ASEAN nations want to align with existing international law.
China&nbsp;stakes its claim on its maps with the use of a "nine-dash line" that loops as far as 1,500 km (900 miles)&nbsp;south&nbsp;of its mainland, cutting into the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the&nbsp;Philippines&nbsp;and Vietnam.
Manila and Beijing have engaged in on-off confrontations for years as&nbsp;China&nbsp;has become more assertive in pressing its maritime claims, alarming&nbsp;neighbours&nbsp;and other nations operating in the key trade route, such as the United States.
China&nbsp;has turned submerged reefs into military installations equipped with radar, runways and missile systems, some inside the&nbsp;Philippines' EEZ.
"The nearest reefs that the PLA has started to show interest in ... for building bases have come closer and closer to the Philippine coastline," said Marcos, referring to the People's Liberation Army Navy of&nbsp;China.
"The situation has become more dire than it was before."
In response,&nbsp;China's foreign ministry spokesperson said, "China's construction activities on its own territory fall entirely within&nbsp;China's sovereignty, and other countries have no right to make irresponsible remarks."
Marcos added that the United States "has always been behind us ... not only in terms of rhetoric, but also in terms of concrete support".
(Additional reporting by Mikhail Flores and Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Martin Petty and Clarence Fernandez)

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