Marcos eyeing conclusion of SCS Code of Conduct by 2026

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is hopeful that the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea will be finalized by next year when the Philippines chairs and hosts the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summits and Related Summits.

In his Kapihan press briefing with reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, Marcos said he is optimistic that the years-long effort to finalize the document that would govern actions in the South China Sea will finally bear fruit in 2026.

“How confident am I? Well, earlier I said that at heart I’m an optimist. And that’s really my view and we cannot give up. We cannot say that oh there’s no hope and we cannot – nothing’s happening, we cannot move forward, we cannot resolve this thing,” the President said after the conclusion of the 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in in Malaysia.

“Once we’ve done that, we failed. And we cannot fail because we have to find the way forward we have to find a better way of dealing with these things. It would be a failure to the duties that we took an oath to protect and defend the Philippines and its people,” he added.

In August 2018, the ASEAN and China agreed on a single draft of the Code of Conduct, with an agreement reached in November 2018 for both sides to finalize the document within three years. No final document has been agreed upon since then.

The proposed document aims to set rules to prevent the dispute in the South China Sea from escalating into a much worse armed conflict.

Marcos acknowledged that finalizing a Code of Conduct is “not an easy process” but they will continue to exert efforts to arrive at a solution to the tensions in the vast waterway.

“We just keep trying. If this doesn’t work, we’ll try something else. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try something else. But we cannot stop. We must continue and continue and continue until we find the solution,” he said.

Asked if Chinese President Xi Jinping would be invited for the signing of the Code of Conduct, the President replied: “I will certainly invite him, and I would make all of the efforts available.”

“If we get to that point where President Xi will actually consider coming to the Philippines, it would mean that we have made significant progress. And that would be a great thing, that would be just a great thing,” he added.

In April, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the ASEAN and China have agreed to complete a Code of Conduct on the South China Sea by 2026 despite contentious issues that delayed its creation.

Earlier on Tuesday, Malaysia turned over the chairmanship of the ASEAN Summit and Related Summits for 2026 to the Philippines.

Marcos said the Philippines is ready to assume the chairmanship of the regional bloc and host the corresponding ministerial summit in 2026 with a focus on practical, inclusive, and measurable initiatives. — JMA, GMA Integrated News