Manila. ASEAN and Beijing will not come up with a “bad” set of rules on the coveted South China Sea, according to the Philippines, as they race against time to reach an agreement.

Over the past decades, ASEAN and Beijing have been drafting a “code of conduct” that specifies how countries should manage their differences over the South China Sea. Some ASEAN members and China have laid overlapping claims over this resource-abundant waterway, fueling confrontations from time to time. 

Manila wants to clinch this overdue code before its ASEAN chairmanship ends this year. Despite the ambitious goal and only about five months to go, Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro said that the negotiations would not sacrifice the substance.

"There were comments on how ‘it’s better not to have a code of conduct than a bad one’. I don’t think ASEAN and China would like to see a bad code of conduct,” Lazaro recently told the 10th ASEAN Media Forum in Manila.

The Philippines said to have seen some “political will” from the countries taking part in the talks, citing that they wish to avoid another Strait of Hormuz situation, where traffic had grounded to a halt following the US-Iran war. Negotiators are also meeting every month.

“The principles underlying for us, [especially for the Philippines], on the code is it should be within the ambit of the principles of the [international maritime law] 1982 UNCLOS,” Lazaro said.

“There should be no diminution in third-party rights. And it [the code] should govern the behavior at sea."

But Lazaro admitted that some stumbling blocks remained to be addressed, including the question of whether to make the code of conduct legally binding or not. They have not reached a consensus on the geographic scope and the terms of reference on what constitutes self-restraint.

“I may not be able to give you the specifics because this is still under negotiations. It may not be as fast as we want, but I think it's moving," Lazaro said.

ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn highlighted the importance of having the code in place.

“We don’t want to see the South China Sea become a hotspot every day, week, or month. We want to see a peaceful and stable South China Sea [that is] in the best interest of all,” Kao remarked.

Fresh tensions between Beijing and Manila at a disputed South China Sea shoal are now casting a shadow over the negotiations. Just last week, the Philippine military accused the Chinese coast guard of injuring one of its sailors, while Beijing blamed the Filipinos for attacking first. 

In their recent Manila gathering, ASEAN chief diplomats had agreed on a communique that highlighted the need to promote a "conducive" environment for the sake of the code negotiations, alluding to the clash.

“[We] welcomed practical measures that could reduce tensions and the risk of accidents, misunderstandings, and miscalculation,” the communique reads.

Besides the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam make up the rest of the ASEAN claimants. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently told his ASEAN counterparts that issues on this waterway should not be an obstacle in their relations.

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