Palace hopeful on South China Sea COC under PH’s Asean chairmanship

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang is keeping its hopes alive for the possible finalization of the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea before the end of the Philippines’ chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

This is despite reports that the COC will be unlikely to be settled during the Philippines’ hosting of the 49th Asean Summit and Related Summits on Nov. 15 to 17.

READ: China, Asean make progress on Code of Conduct, but…

“Sa ngayon, hindi rin natin masasabi kung talagang hindi na ito magkakaroon ng konklusyon sa 49th Asean Summit dahil ang gusto pa rin ng Pangulo ay ito ay maisapinal sa panahon na ang Pilipinas ang siyang Asean chair,” said Palace press officer Claire Castro at a briefing.

(For now, we cannot say for certain whether it will indeed remain unresolved at the 49th ASEAN Summit, as the President still wants it to be finalized during the Philippines’ chairmanship of ASEAN.)

In a briefing last week, Castro said Marcos is aiming to once and for all have the COC finalized after years of delay.

READ: Marcos wants South China Sea code of conduct finalized during Asean

The proposed Code of Conduct is intended to establish rules governing the behavior of countries in the disputed waters and prevent incidents that could lead to armed conflict.

An Associated Press report, however, said talks regarding this may have to continue next year when the Asean leadership rotates to Singapore.

The last major points that need to be agreed upon are the geographic scope to be covered by the agreement, the definition of sensitive terms, and whether the accord should be legally binding or not, the report said. /gsg

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