First reading of negotiation text on South China Sea completed ahead of time
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday that the first reading of negotiations text on the code of conduct (COC) in the contentious South China Sea has finished well ahead of schedule set at the end of the year.
Wang Yi is in Bangkok for a series of meetings with his counterparts from Asean and its partners. He also met Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, who chaired the Asean ministerial meeting.
China has been at loggerheads for a long time with many Asean members, notably the Philippines and Vietnam, over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Though all sides signed a non-legally binding Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002, it failed to ease tensions as the signatories began reclaiming islands, rocks and shoals in the contentious area. Facilities such as airfields built on reclaimed land also raised concerns in the international community about militarisation in the area.
China and Asean kicked off negotiations on the Single Draft Negotiating Text of the COC last year, and set the deadline for finishing the first of three readings as the end of this year.
At the China-Asean foreign ministers’ meeting at a Bangkok hotel on Wednesday, Wang noted that in the past year, China and Asean countries, in the spirit of the DOC, explored options of rule-based governance of the South China Sea, actively advancing consultations on COC and completing the first reading of the negotiating text ahead of schedule.
He added that after the first reading, the text is streamlined so the framework and essential elements of the text have become clearer and more reasonable. “It marks new, major progress in the COC consultations and an important step towards the goal of concluding consultations within three years,” Wang was quoted as saying by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.
He also said that the first reading was completed early thanks to the “sincerity and resolve of all parties in the consultation.
“This cherishable achievement gives us more time for the following readings, boosts our confidence and demonstrates the conviction of regional countries to jointly set rules in the region and safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea together,” he said. “As COC consultations continue, I believe we will make more progress and have more outcomes to share with you.”