ASEAN, China agree to complete sea code by 2026

MANILA, Philippines —  The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China are “politically committed” to conclude a legally binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea by next year, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said yesterday.

“Everyone has agreed that we would all like to have a code by 2026 that we have to agree,” Manalo told reporters on the sidelines of the  Maritime Security Symposium 2025. “We’ll try our best,” he said.

The foreign affairs chief said ASEAN member-states still need to have a consensus among themselves on certain issues.

“Well it’s contentious in the sense that there are issues that need to get the consensus of all countries,” Manalo said.

“But as the President said we still have to address important issues such the scope of the code, also the nature of the code and its relation also to the declaration of the principles adopted in 2002 on the South China Sea,” he pointed out.

During its hosting of the latest round of negotiations for an ASEAN-China Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, the Philippines voiced its concerns over incidents that posed risks to Philippine vessels and personnel in the West Philippine Sea, as well as over actions by other countries that infringed on the Philippines’ sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction.

The meeting of the Joint Working Group on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (JWG-DOC), which is tasked with undertaking the COC negotiations, was held in Manila on April 9-11. The JWG-DOC is co-chaired by Malaysia and China.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said the meeting was an opportunity for the Philippines to strongly call for the need to adhere to international law, particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award.

Chinese ships in West Philippine Sea

But as the ASEAN and China profess commitment to finalizing a COC in the South China Sea, nine Chinese naval vessels including an aircraft carrier made “expeditious” passage through Philippine waters one after another on the second day of the Balikatan exercises between US and Philippine forces largely in the northern Luzon coast.

Based on reports from the Naval Forces Northern Luzon and the Northern Luzon Command, the aircraft carrier Shandong was spotted underway about 2.23 nautical miles southwest of Babuyan Island, well within the country’s archipelagic waters, at 9:36 a.m. Tuesday.

At 11:47 a.m., a Type 815A Chinese electronic surveillance ship with hull number AGI-797 was also monitored approximately 33.11 nautical miles northwest of Dalupiri Island, or about 38.91 nautical miles northwest of Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.

Although the passage of the Chinese warships coincided with the start of this year’s Balikatan, the military said there was nothing alarming about their presence in the area.

Philippine Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said the aircraft carrier and its escorts were last tracked 115 nautical miles off Sta. Ana, Cagayan Wednesday night.

Philippine Navy spokesman Capt. John Percie Alcos said the warships were “actually conducting a normal naval operations en route to a specific destination that we still do not know.”

He said the aircraft carrier, its escort vessels and the surveillance ship passed through in an “expeditious manner” and that “they did not stop in any part of that particular travel.” He said the Philippine Navy made the usual radio challenge but he did not say how the Chinese vessels responded.

“We expect lots of vessels to transit that particular area, especially off the coast of the Babuyan Islands and Dalupiri Island because it’s a recognized maritime corridor. With the Balikatan exercises ongoing, we also expect several key players to be there also to monitor the exercise,” Alcos told reporters.

“This is the first time that we’ve monitored that particular aircraft carrier that near to our coast,” he said.

And although the Chinese warships were monitored within Philippine territorial waters, “we cannot say for certain if they pose a real threat because their passage was expeditious.”

In a statement on the incidents, the Philippine Navy said “it remains committed to promoting regional stability through the responsible monitoring and reporting of maritime activities within the Philippine maritime domain.”

Release Pinoys

Meanwhile,  members and officers of the Akbayan party-list stormed yesterday the Chinese consular office in Makati demanding the immediate release from detention of David Servañez, Albert Endencia and Nathalie Plizardo, all from Palawan, who were arrested by Chinese authorities for alleged espionage.

The Akbayan condemned the arrests as part of China’s palit-ulo (head for head) tack, in retaliation against what Beijing perceived as a Philippine government crackdown on suspected Chinese spies.

“China is … trying hard to twist the story to make them appear as the underdog. Our countrymen are not spies They are innocent migrant workers who finished their studies through the scholarship program of China and are peacefully working there,” Akbayan Rep. Perci Cendaña said in a statement.

“It’s clear that China is retaliating for the arrest of their spies on our soil. They’ve stooped to a shameful ‘hostage diplomacy,’ a twisted palit-ulo tactic. China is no longer just a trespasser and harasser in the West Philippine Sea, it has become a hostage-taker of our overseas Filipino workers,” Cendaña added.

Akbayan also demanded the closure of Confucius Institutes in Philippine universities for their being potentially vehicles for disinformation and espionage.

“Until China recognizes the West Philippine Sea and our historic 2016 arbitral victory, these institutions must be closed. They risk spreading disinformation and, worse, may be used for espionage,” Cendaña said.

Akbayan held former president Rodrigo Duterte accountable for emboldening Chinese aggression through his subservient foreign policy.

“Duterte bent over backward to serve Beijing’s interests. They thought that since they already bought Digong, they had also bought our sovereignty,” Cendaña said. - Jose Rodel Clapano