DFA’s Lazaro to discuss ‘new strategy’ on SCS Code of Conduct with ASEAN ministers

Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro will discuss a new strategy with her ASEAN counterparts in a closed-door meeting later this month to increase the chances of advancing or concluding this year the long-delayed talks with Beijing on a Code of Conduct in the disputed South China Sea.

Lazaro also told GMA News Online in a one-on-one interview that she would report to her ASEAN counterparts later this month the outcome of her recent visit to Myanmar, where she met military and civilian leaders, as the designated ASEAN special envoy.

The long-running South China Sea disputes, the deadly civil unrest in Myanmar that started after the military takeover of government in 2021, and the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict are among the most contentious issues being faced by the 11-nation ASEAN bloc, which the Philippines is leading as chair this year after assuming the role a year earlier from crisis-plagued Myanmar.

Myanmar was barred from assuming the ASEAN chairmanship this year as regularly scheduled due to the ruling junta's refusal to implement a peace plan agreed on by the bloc’s heads of state to stem the deadly civil strife in the country. ASEAN leaders made the decision when Indonesia led the bloc as chair.

The conclusion of the COC talks is a specially sensitive objective for the Philippines because of the spike in confrontations between the Chinese coast guard and navy and Philippine forces in recent years in the disputed South China Sea. The long unresolved disputes also involve ASEAN members Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Taiwan also has claims in the strategic waterway.

“Discussions have ensued and we have been playing an active role. So this is something that we are now looking carefully,” Lazaro said.

“I have certain strategies, but I can only discuss this with my ASEAN counterparts when we have this retreat.”

Lazaro was referring to an informal meeting of ASEAN Foreign Ministers that will take place in Cebu from January 25 to 29.

Efforts by past ASEAN chair countries, including Indonesia in 2024 and Malaysia last year, did not yield any breakthrough.

Three years ago, ASEAN foreign ministers said the bloc should aim to conclude the talks in three years, or this year, which fell under the Philippine chairmanship.

When asked of the chances of the ASEAN and China reaching a breakthrough or even concluding the COC talks this year, Lazaro said the Philippines would always remain optimistic and would always try its best to attain that objective despite remaining fundamental differences, including whether such a COC should be a legally binding document.

“We're endeavoring to make it a binding, legally binding document so that makes a whole lot of difference,” Lazaro said, but suggested difficult negotiations on that and three other contentious issues, called “milestones,” remain unresolved.

“There are four milestones…they have been building consensus on the responses on those milestones,” she said. “But there has to be more.”

If no breakthrough is reached this year in the COC negotiations, the responsibility of shepherding the talks would fall on the next ASEAN chair, Singapore, which has no claims in the disputed waters but has been a strong advocate for freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea given the reliance of its freeport economy to unfettered movement of trade and commerce in the waters.

“ASEAN is also invested so much in this,” Lazaro said. “I’m always hopeful. It is really a difficult one. But I’ll just say that we’ll endeavor to do our best.” — BM, GMA Integrated News