Some thoughts about the COC in South China Sea
Since 1990s, the South China Sea dispute and its potentially explosive conflict have threatened the security, stability and development of the Southeast Asian region. Meanwhile, The Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) signed by ASEAN and China in 2002 seems to be ineffective and can not ease the prolonged tension. This article is about the importance and urgency of adopting a regional Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea with its essential sphere and content.
To the 9 coastal countries, the South China Sea with enormous economic, social, environmental and geopolitical values, for a long time has been an object of the dispute. Recently, the tension around this dispute tends to be rising caused by the ineffectiveness of the DOC and China’s imposed viewpoint on the South China Seaissues. Immediately after the signing of the 2002 Declaration, ASEAN and Chinahave determined that DOC is not a finale, but a futher step toward the COC. Hence, according to the authors, today there is an urgent need of a COC which is forceful enough to prevent any moves threaten the security of the region and to promote respect and enforcement of UNCLOS’s provions (1982) in the South China Sea.
In this article, the authors also put forth a preliminary draft of the COC with its purposes, general content, subjects and objects of implementation. The important role of the COC is to adjust the behaviours not only of the parties directly related to the South China Sea dispute, but also of all the nations using this territorial waters. The ASEAN countries have reached an agreement at the highest level on drafting and adopting the COC with the support of some powers, such as Chinaand the U.S. The positive and proactive part of ASEAN will be a crucial element to promote this process.
ABSTRACT by Nguyen Danh Thang and Le Thi Thanh Ha.
