By Clint Richards
Both countries are developing their South China Sea strategies, neither of which has much to do with ASEAN.
China and ASEAN have resumed discussing guidelines on a maritime code of conduct (CoC) this week, and while China has apparently warmed to the idea of agreed upon maritime rules since it met with ASEAN officials in Suzhou last September to discuss this topic, there is little expectation that China will cede any claims to authority in the South China Sea. Instead, China is expected to advance its own claims, and highlight how it has attempted to cooperate and resolve outstanding disputes, particularly with the Philippines and Vietnam.
In an interview with Filipino ABS-CBN News, foreign affairs analyst and professor Richard Heydarian said China is attempting to lead discussions toward enhancing the Declaration on the Conduct (DoC) of Parties in the South China Sea, after agreeing last year to discuss a CoC with its ASEAN neighbors. “To go back and discuss the 2002 declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea… shows how the Chinese are still unwilling to bind themselves by any legally binding regional principle,” he said. He also said this type of backtracking is an attempt to keep ASEAN’s members from creating a unified position for resolving maritime disputes in the South China Sea.
Read the full story at The Diplomat