China, ASEAN to hold talks in Cebu on SCS Code of Conduct — diplomats

CEBU CITY – China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will hold four days of negotiations in Cebu on a proposed "Code of Conduct" in the South China Sea, Southeast Asian diplomats told GMA News Online Tuesday.

The negotiations, which will involve technical working groups and senior officials of China and the ASEAN member states, will be held on January 30 to February 2.

This is the first negotiations to be hosted in the Philippines since Manila assumed the bloc's chairship this year. The meeting is also taking place a day after ASEAN foreign ministers conclude their one-day talks in Cebu on January 29.

As ASEAN chair, the Philippines has been trying to make progress in the negotiations to bring it nearer to a conclusion considering the concerns in the disputed South China Sea.

"We are always optimistic. Let's see how this meeting will turn out," one of the diplomats said.

Timor Leste, admitted by ASEAN as its 11th member in October 2025, will not take part in the talks, the diplomats said.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Theresa Lazaro told GMA News Online in a one-on-one interview earlier this month that she will discuss a "new strategy" with her ASEAN counterparts in a closed-door meeting in Cebu to increase the chances of advancing or concluding this year the long-delayed talks with Beijing on the code.

The conclusion of the COC talks is a specially sensitive objective for the Philippines because of the spike in confrontations in the disputed waters between the Chinese coast guard and navy on one side, and Philippine forces on the other. The long unresolved territorial disputes also involve ASEAN members Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Taiwan also has claims in the strategic waterway.

"I have certain strategies, but I can only discuss this with my ASEAN counterparts when we have this retreat," said Lazaro, referring to an informal meeting of ASEAN Foreign Ministers, called a "retreat."

The proposed Code of Conduct aims to set some rules to prevent the intensifying disputes in the South China Sea from spinning out of control and worsening into a major armed conflict that could involve the United States, an ally of the Philippines and other Asian countries at odds with China. The negotiations, however, have suffered delays and have dragged on for more than a decade.

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.

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

If parties fail to reach a breakthrough 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.

Lazaro said the Philippines would always remain optimistic and would always try its best to reach a breakthrough or even finalize a code 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. — VDV, GMA Integrated News