SENIOR officials from China and ASEAN countries had an in-depth discussion on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and agreed to continue to push forward consultation over the ‘South China Sea Code of Conduct (COC)’ during a meeting on Tuesday.
The 13th Senior Officials’ Meeting on DOC opened at the Shangri-La Hotel in Manzhouli, a city in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin and senior diplomatic officials from ASEAN countries attended the meeting.
In keeping with a joint statement signed on July 25 by foreign ministers of China and ASEAN countries on fully and effectively implementing the DOC, senior officials at the meeting signed two cooperation documents on dealing with any emergency at sea and the adoption of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) in the South China Sea.
The two documents are planned to be released during the China-ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on Sept. 7.
“The CUES is a code adopted at the Western Pacific Naval Symposium. Considering that some ASEAN countries have not joined the symposium, we have agreed to adopt this code in the South China Sea in case of any possible conflicts occurring between navies. The code may be a technical one but its adoption is of great political significance and importance to safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea,” said Liu.
Liu said that the adoption of CUES is an early fruit achieved during the promotion of COC and they will continue with the work and fulfill the building of a framework for COC before August 2017.
In 2002, China and the 10 ASEAN member states signed the DOC in which the parties solemnly “undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned.”. (Courtesy China Central Television)