About this write Reuters.
Speaking in Hawaii during a live broadcast of the event, Marcos said escalating tensions in the South China Sea required the Philippines to partner with allies and neighbors to maintain peace in the waterway, where he said the situation was now “more dire.”
“We are still waiting for a code of conduct between China and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asia – ed.), but unfortunately progress is very slow. We have taken the initiative to approach those other countries around ASEAN that we have territorial conflicts, Vietnam is one of them, Malaysia is another, and create our own code of conduct,” said the Philippine leader.
Meanwhile, the Chinese, Malaysian and Vietnamese embassies in Manila did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the possible code.
China has stated that the formation of a code of conduct in the South China Sea is an important task for it and the ASEAN countries. But a spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry warned at a press briefing that any move that goes beyond the scope and goes against the spirit of the declaration on the conduct of parties (DOC) in the South China Sea is invalid.
Reuters recalls that ASEAN and China have been working for the past few years to create a framework to agree on a code of conduct, a plan dating back to 2002. But progress has been slow, despite commitments from all parties to advance and accelerate the process.
- A day earlier, the president of the Philippines said that the situation in the area of the South China Sea, where his country and China have a territorial dispute, has become “even more dire.”
Fuente: espreso.tv
