A maritime defense expert has expressed his doubts that China would abide by the prospective Code of Conduct (COC) on the South China Sea that may be drafted by ASEAN, considering its refusal to follow the 2016 Arbitral and other regulations stipulated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Commodore Debesh Lahiri of the Indian Navy, who is also the executive director of India's National Maritime Foundation, believed it would be impossible to enforce the COC because he said he could not see China "agreeing in the future" with it.

"How do you plan to enforce it? I personally don’t see it happening. This issue, whether it will be legally binding or not, to my mind, if they are not obeying the PCA (Permanent Court of Arbitration) award, I don't see it happening to the COC," Lahiri said at a forum organized by Stratbase ADR Institute on Thursday.

He said the reason why several countries, including India, already joined hands to deter threats in the Indo-Pacific "is because one country is not adhering to what should be legally binding."

"If you look at the PCA award of 2016...not only did China not participate in the proceedings, but at the same time, for every submission... they had a statement coming out thereafter," Lahiri said.

He said Beijing's refusal to participate in the arbitration "speaks a lot about their attitude."

Lahiri said a "political will" and "character" are necessary for a country to accept it, noting that "history is indicative of what the future will be" and "most of the time, history repeats itself."

Meanwhile, former Defense chief Orly Mercado believed there should be a strong mechanism to enforce the conduct once it is crafted.

He said ASEAN and its dialogue partners "must develop mechanisms to enforce agreements and decisions in ensuring accountability."

"It is also critical that the new ASEAN way or whatever we may change in the ASEAN way, should actively seek strategic alliance with like-minded external powers to uphold a rules-based international order," he added.

Mercado clarified that a multilateral cooperation is "not cold war 2.0"

"Our alignment may put Southeast Asia in a more precarious position caught between two rival superpowers. However, in resolving the South China Sea disputes, it is very important that we strengthen the enforcement mechanism of what we agree upon, enhance dialogue forums, strategic alliances, and develop a comprehensive regional security framework," he explained.