There are at least two to three rounds of negotiations expected to happen next year for the crafting of the Code of Conduct (COC) on the South China Sea, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo said Thursday.
This development came as talks on the future COC stalled due to restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic, Manalo added.
"They will most likely continue again next year. In fact, the talks, the negotiations, actually, not just talks, are actually taking place on a regular schedule," the country's top diplomat said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
What's blocking the negotiations of the sea conduct, Manalo noted, are the technical issues coming from its parties, which are composed of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China.
Five ASEAN members—namely Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam—China and Taiwan have competing claims over the South China Sea.
" many technical aspects when exactly, what activities will be taken to prevent any unforeseen events or incidents, as well as the processes and procedures which would have to be adopted and definitions, etc," Manalo said.
He added there is already a declaration of principles on the South China Sea adopted two decades ago, and concerned parties would like to "build on that."
"What's important, though, in our point of view, is that it should be substantive and effective," the diplomat said.
Meanwhile, Manalo said both President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Chinese President Xi Jinping, in their bilateral talk in Thailand, believed water disputes "would not define the total relationship" between the two countries.
They also agreed that the Philippines and China "need to see how we can manage our differences," he added.
During the recently concluded ASEAN Summits and related summits in Cambodia, where the Chinese government was also present, ASEAN members raised the need for a peaceful settlement of dispute over the waters.
Marcos pressured claimants for the early conclusion of the COC because it is more relevant now as countries involved mark the 40th year of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and 20th year of the and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).