It has been two decades since China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) began discussing a formal Code of Conduct to de-escalate tensions in the South China Sea. This region has been a subject of territorial disputes for years.
It was a remarkable feat when a diverse group of Southeast Asian countries, each with its unique interests and perspectives, agreed in principle to work toward a common position on the South China Sea issue.
China is the main obstacle to concluding the code of conduct in the South China Sea. It has been delaying the negotiations and imposing unrealistic conditions.
For instance, a few years ago, Beijing told the 10 Asean members that it would agree and sign the code at its own pace and when it was ready.
It was annoying as Asean had no choice but to wait. Perhaps China was waiting to seize full control of the territory before concluding a deal with Asean. By that time, it would be moot.
Taiwan invented the nine-dash-line in 1949 after the Communist forces defeated the Kuomintang forces that fled to the tiny island across the mainland.
China adopted the nine-dash-line policy. Communist China and the nationalist Taiwan did not move to seize control of the area. Taiwan held the most significant piece of land in the Spratly, Itu Aba, reclaiming a small portion to improve its fortifications.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the three Southeast Asian states — Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam — started occupying reefs, shoals, and cays to claim parts of the South China Sea.
The late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., even enacted a law to claim the Spratly group of islands, creating a town as part of Palawan.
Brunei has not occupied any feature but claimed the waters as part of its exclusive economic zone.
China’s interests in the South China Sea began in the late 1980s when it wrestled control of the Paracels and Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys from Vietnam.
In 1988, China defeated Vietnam in a sea battle, seizing four to five features in the Spratlys.
Four years later, a worried Asean came up with a Manila Declaration calling for restraint and diplomatic and political measures to resolve the conflicting claims in the area.
But it did not stop China from grabbing and occupying Mischief Reef, a low-tide elevation feature in the West Philippine Sea in 1995.
The illegal occupation came more than two years after the United States pulled out from Subic and Clark.
Asean expanded after Mischief, accepting Vietnam as a member in July 1995, two years after it gained observer status.
Cambodia and Laos became members in 1997, and Myanmar joined in 1999.
In 2002, at a summit in Phnom Penh, Asean convinced China to sign a political document, the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea or DOC, an informal code of conduct, three years later to reduce tension in the South China Sea and prevent claimant-states from further occupying uninhabited features.
After the DOC was signed, Asean began to work for a formal code of conduct.
It took 15 years for a framework, or an outline of the Code of Conduct, to be approved in a summit in Manila.
The flesh and bones of the Code followed, but after seven years, Asean and China are still debating after two readings of the Code.
China was still contesting a legally binding Code with some sanctions for states violating the Code.
In Laos, this week, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr was expected to raise the Code of Conduct as tensions grew in the South China Sea.
The Philippines has seen escalating violent attacks on fishermen and public vessels. Chinese gray ships have joined Coast Guard and militia vessels in harassing Philippine and Vietnamese boats.
The presence of US and other allied warships in the disputed area increases the risks of miscalculations and accidents that could lead to limited armed confrontations.
Thus, there is an urgent need to conclude a legally binding, rules-based Code of Conduct to avoid conflict in the South China Sea, transforming the area into a sea of peace and cooperation.
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