Philippines targets end-2026 for South China Sea code of conduct

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is pushing to complete a long-delayed South China Sea code of conduct by the end of 2026, with monthly negotiations now underway to resolve issues that have stalled talks for years, Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro said.

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. earlier this month, Lazaro said ASEAN and China were moving toward a deadline set by foreign ministers in 2023, when they said negotiations had taken too long and instructed that the code be finished within three years.

The Philippines is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' host and chair this year.

"On the code of conduct, that is a very important deliverable, and hopefully one for the end of the year," Lazaro said at the forum June 4.

The proposed code is meant to set rules for conduct in the disputed waters, where China’s sweeping claims overlap with those of several Southeast Asian states, including the Philippines. It has long been viewed as a possible mechanism to manage tensions and prevent incidents from escalating.

ASEAN and China signed the nonbinding Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in 2002, which set for the eventual adoption of a code of conduct. Formal negotiations on the code began years later in March 2018.

Lazaro said the talks are no longer being held only quarterly, but monthly.

"I think we are closing in on some important issues because there are four milestone issues there: the scope, whether the agreement is legally binding or not, the connection between the code of conduct and the declaration, and the terms of reference," she said.

"I have to be very candid, even the definition of self-restraint has not been resolved after almost 10 years," Lazaro said. "But slowly, it is moving, and our target is really toward the end of the year."

Lazaro said the Philippines would insist that any code remain within the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"It is very important that this remain within the provisions of UNCLOS, and that no other regime should be accepted," she said.

Asked about concerns that ASEAN and China could finish a code that turns out to be weak, Lazaro rejected the possibility.

"No. We will make sure, as the chair, that this code of conduct, we consider it a gift to the region, a gift to the world, and we have to finish it in the right and appropriate way," she said.

The Philippines holds the ASEAN chairmanship this year, giving Manila a central role in steering the negotiations even as it continues to face repeated confrontations with Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

Lazaro linked the urgency of the talks to wider concerns over freedom of navigation, saying the South China Sea should not another Strait of Hormuz, the blockage of which affected global oil supply and trade when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in March. The Philippines, for one, has been dealing with skyrocketing fuel prices as a major oil importer.

"We do not want the South China Sea to be a choke point like what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz. Navigational areas should remain free, and that is one reason why we have to finish this code of conduct," she said.

The code talks come as the Philippines prepares to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2016 arbitral award in July, when an UNCLOS tribunal rejected China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. Lazaro described the ruling as "final, binding, and non-negotiable," saying it is now part of the global legal corpus.

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