By Nie Huihui
China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued the Joint Statement on the 20th Anniversary of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea on the occasion of the 25th ASEAN-China Summit and the 20th Anniversary of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). The statement is another important consensus document issued by China and ASEAN countries on the South China Sea issue and is of great significance.
The South China Sea is the common home of countries in the region. It is in the interests of all parties to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea and build it into a "sea of peace, friendship and cooperation". In recent years, competition among major powers has intensified and geopolitics has resurfaced, causing unnecessary disturbance to the stability of the South China Sea. However, thanks to the joint efforts of China and ASEAN, the situation in the South China Sea has continued to maintain stable. China, ASEAN and related countries have carried out practical cooperation around the South China Sea and achieved a series of results.
First, the consensus on managing and resolving disputes continues to grow. The South China Sea issue involves multiple parties and is complex and cannot be resolved overnight. For decades, China has been in close dialogue with ASEAN countries and actively looking for solutions and ways to manage, control and resolve disputes in the South China Sea. China has gradually established a set of effective ways to control and resolve those issues. Especially in the past ten years, China and ASEAN adopted the Guidelines for the Implementation of the DOC, formally launched consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC), and issued the Joint Statement on the Full and Effective Implementation of the DOC, which further clarifies the significance of fully and effectively implementing the DOC.
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the DOC, China and ASEAN once again issued a commemorative joint statement to reconfirm a series of effective principles and norms, ideas and practices in the past and laid a consensus foundation for the consultation of the COC and exploration of ways to resolve disputes in the South China Sea.
Second, the mechanism for properly handling disputes in the South China Sea continues to improve. China and ASEAN countries have continued to promote the Senior Officials' Meeting and Joint Working Group aimed at implementing the DOC. Various dialogue and cooperation mechanisms have been established between the parties in the South China Sea. China and ASEAN countries have also signed documents such as the Joint Statement on the Application of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea in the South China Sea, which have played an important role in promoting mutual understanding, enhancing mutual trust, and maintaining the overall stability of the South China Sea situation.
At present, China and ASEAN are also stepping up consultations to formulate an effective, substantive COC that is in line with international laws including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to provide a solid institutional guarantee for lasting peace and stability in the South China Sea.
Third, practical cooperation to resolve disputes in the South China Sea continues to advance. First, the increasingly close economic cooperation between China and ASEAN has provided an inexhaustible impetus for peacefully resolving disputes in the South China Sea. At present, China and ASEAN are each other's largest trading partners, and resolving disputes peacefully in the South China Sea has become a common interest in the region.
Second, China and ASEAN have deepened maritime practical cooperation, which provides strong confidence in peacefully resolving disputes in the South China Sea. The two consecutive maritime exercises jointly held by China and ASEAN before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, The joint patrols between China and Vietnam in the Beibu Gulf, and the cooperation between China and ASEAN countries in multiple fields including marine scientific research, environmental protection, search and rescue, and fishery, etc., have continuously enhanced ASEAN member states' understanding and trust of China, and also greatly enhanced the confidence in peacefully resolving disputes in the South China Sea.
Third, the joint development plan jointly created by China and relevant parties provides an effective path for peacefully resolving disputes in the South China Sea. China and the Philippines are currently actively exploring the way to jointly develop disputed waters, which is likely to set a good example for the successful settlement of South China Sea disputes in the future.
At present, the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and ASEAN has started, and China and ASEAN are working to build a closer community witha shared future. Although the South China Sea is an "uncertain factor" affecting the relationship between China and ASEAN, the practice in the past two decades has proved that China and ASEAN "have full confidence, wisdom and capacity to take the key to the South China Sea issue firmly in our own hands." Together, China and ASEAN could serve as defenders of peace, builders of friendship and champions of cooperation in the South China Sea.
(The author is an assistant researcher fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations)
Editor's note: Originally published on china.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
