The first reading of the Single Draft Negotiating Text of the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, involving China and ASEAN member states, has finished ahead of schedule, marking significant progress and an important step in COC consultations, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced on Wednesday during the China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Bangkok.

File photo: VCG

Wang said, through the first reading the text is streamlined so that the framework and essential elements of the text become clearer and the structure more reasonable.

"It marks new, major progress in the COC consultations and an important step toward the goal of concluding the consultations within three years' time," said the Chinese top diplomat.

Wang stressed that the first reading was completed early thanks to the sincerity and resolve of all parties in the consultation.

The COC shall be finished soon, eventually leading to an agreement to make the South China Sea into a zone of peace, Wilson Lee Flores, a columnist of the Manila-based daily newspaper Philippine Star, told the People’s Daily.

“It is ideal for ASEAN countries and China to steadfastly ask other foreign countries with no territorial claims in the South China Sea to not get involved in or interfere with disagreements and negotiations among claimant nations in the region,” said Flores. 

He hopes the proposed COC can lead to an enduring peace in the region, with no other foreign countries sending their warships or submarines or holding military exercises in this region except for ASEAN countries and China sending mostly civilian patrol boats or coast guard ships for stopping pirates or terrorists.   

“Finishing the COC is of primary importance to China,” Flores noted. He believes that as the biggest nation in the region, China is the key to the success of the COC. “Pragmatic China leaders have in recent months repeatedly expressed their high hopes that the COC be finished within three years, while the Philippines is sitting as the country coordinator to the China-Asean dialogue.”

China and ASEAN countries followed the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), signed by China and ASEAN countries in 2002. It outlined the most important principles in the management of disputes on the South China Sea. 

In August 2017, China and ASEAN countries approved the framework of the COC in the South China Sea. In August 2018, China and ASEAN countries arrived at a single draft negotiating text of the COC in the South China Sea. Consultations for the COC were launched by the two sides in 2013. Both the DOC and COC are aimed at safeguarding peace and stability in the region.