The Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the Philippines and China have agreed to support the early termination of discussions on the formulation of the Code of Behavior in the South China Sea, this came during a bilateral meeting of the two presidents of the two countries on the sidelines of the Asia Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC).
The ministry said – in a statement reported by the Philippine ABS -CBN channel on Friday – that the Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping confirmed that the Code of Behavior will help “manage differences and regional tensions” in the disputed waters, adding The two leaders agreed that maritime issues do not specify the overall Filipino-Chinese relations.
The ministry pointed out that Marcus told the Chinese president that his country’s foreign policy refuses to fall into the trap of the Cold War mentality, adding that “our policy is an independent foreign policy that guides our national interest and our commitment to peace. ”
The Association of Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN) and China signed an announcement of the status of the Code of Conduct in 2002, but it has not yet been completed from the actual blog, after two decades have passed.
Among the parts of the dispute in the negotiations, whether the blog must be legally binding, and whether countries other than the parties should also be subject to them.
It is noteworthy that Beijing demands sovereignty over the largest part of the South China Sea, which is rich Sea behavior..
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