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South China Sea
OpinionComment
Simon Hutagalung
Simon Hutagalung

Opinion | China must not derail revived South China Sea code of conduct talks

  • Asean ministers have agreed to revive talks on the code of conduct, but they are applying international law rather than China’s preferred rules
  • China must understand that coercion and negotiations cannot take place simultaneously if it wants to bring the code of conduct into being

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Filipino fishermen aboard their boats sail past a Chinese vessel near the Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea, on February 6. Rising regional and global tensions threaten to thwart Indonesia’s efforts to revive negotiations over a code of conduct in the South China Sea. Photo: AFP
Simon Hutagalung
The South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes and an area of great strategic interest, remains contested amid overlapping territorial claims. China’s nine-dash line clashes with the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of many Southeast Asian states that were awarded to them under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
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Increasing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea through its naval and military modernisation, artificial islands, resource exploration and aggressive sea patrols have kept other claimant states on their toes.
As recently as February 6, the Philippines found China using a “military-grade laser light” to force its coastguard ship to retreat that was on a mission to resupply Philippines troops at the Second Thomas Shoal located in the disputed Spratly Islands.

The laser temporarily blinded the crew and halted the mission. While the Philippines maintains the right to conduct legitimate activities within its EEZ, Chinese aggressiveness has often jeopardised the Philippines’ maritime rights, as it has of the other South China Sea states.

Moreover, China could consider the recent Vietnam-Indonesia deal over EEZ demarcation as a threat to its maritime claims in the South China Sea. While this agreement has settled a long-standing maritime dispute of overlapping EEZs between Indonesia and Vietnam, it could provoke Chinese retaliation.
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Under its Asean chairmanship for the year 2023, Indonesia has made a move towards reviving talks on China’s long-demanded South China Sea code of conduct. As Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have rejected Beijing’s demands to give up their territorial rights, the increasing military pressure from China has brought together traditionally non-aligned Southeast Asian states to seek cooperation and support.
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