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PacNet #45A – A Code of Conduct for the South China Sea?

August 17, 2012

On July 20, 2012, foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) called for "the early conclusion of a Regional Code of Conduct in the South China Sea." The statement that the Cambodian foreign minister, as chairman of the July 9 ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, issued on behalf of his colleagues invoked past ASEAN agreements pertaining to the rule of international law, self-restraint, the non-use of force, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. Based entirely on an Indonesian draft cleared with all ASEAN member-states, the statement laid down what were the positions of ASEAN, claimants and non-claimants alike, on the South China Sea and their interests in it.