ASEAN urged to sign Code of Conduct on SCS by 2026

House Interparliamentary Relations and Diplomacy panel vice chairperson Rufus Rodriguez on Friday urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to sign off on a Code of Conduct on the South China Sea by 2026.

The Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Representative said such a move would be a "fitting achievement" for the regional bloc when the Philippines hosts the ASEAN Summit next year.

“I call on all the leaders of these nations to support the finalization of the draft code. I urge all their ambassadors to convince their respective governments to finalize the document and to sign it next year in Manila,” Rodriguez said.

“The code is envisioned to be the guidepost for peaceful co-existence among China and ASEAN members, especially those with overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea, like China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Brunei,” he added.

Back in July 2016, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that China's claims in the South China Sea have "no legal basis." 

The same decision also ruled that the Ayungin Shoal, the Spratly Islands, Panganiban or Mischief Reef, and Recto or Reed Bank are within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) 200 nautical miles off the territorial sea as provided under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and that China cannot prevent Filipinos from catching fish in Scarborough Shoal because it is a common fishing ground.

China, however, refuses to recognize the ruling. 

Rodriguez, meanwhile, also said that China should “play big brother to its ASEAN neighbors” by supporting the establishment of Code of Conduct on the South China Sea instead of continuing its expansive claims and aggression against the Philippine vessels and Coast Guard personnel in the area.

“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,” he said.

In April this year, then Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said the two sides have agreed to finalize the document by 2026 despite contentious issues.

Just last Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during the Asean Summit and other Related Summits,  President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed the hope that the proposed code of conduct would be signed in Manila next year, when the Philippines hosts the next regional conference.

ASEAN has an existing Declaration of Conduct on the South China Sea with China (ASEAN-China DOC), which was inked way back in 2002.

Included in the provisions of the 2022 ASEAN-China DOC is that "parties concerned undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea." 

The ASEAN-DOC, however, does not contain sanctions in the event of a violation from any party to the declaration. —VAL, GMA Integrated News