ASEAN Tackles the South China Sea

There was significant debate on whether China should be invited to take part in the drafting of the code of conduct, envisioned as a legally binding document to prevent small incidents in the South China Sea from escalating into bigger conflicts. In 1992, a year after China commenced consultation with ASEAN, the latter issued a declaration of principles on the South China Sea in which ‘all parties concerned’ were urged to exercise restraint in order to create ‘a positive climate for the eventual resolution of all disputes’. Ten years later, in 2002, China signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea with ASEAN. Since then, ASEAN and China have been working on a ‘Regional Code of Conduct in the South China Sea’, but no agreement has been reached so far. A number of factors informs how ASEAN, as a region, views the problem of the South China Sea.