Indonesia proposes draft Code of Conduct in the South China Sea

Indonesia has proposed draft binding regulations to govern the behavior of claimants in the South China Sea, including how to control the movement of ships passing through the area, a cabinet minister and ASEAN sources said on October 3.

Indonesia has forwarded the draft resolution to the foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN member countries at a meeting on September 27 on the sidelines of the plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa at the plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. (Source: Reuters)

Jakarta-based daily Kompas quoted Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa as saying in New York that this "zero draft" is considered "the official draft that will be discussed among ASEAN member countries and then with China."

"(We proposed) this draft to urge them (to develop a code of conduct)," Mr. Natalegawa stressed. However, according to the Indonesian Foreign Minister, the draft does not include provisions related to territorial disputes in the East Sea, saying that this "must be resolved directly between the disputing parties."

“It only regulates how the parties (behave) when their sovereignty dispute (is being resolved),” Mr Natalegawa said.

Sources familiar with the draft said the draft code of conduct between parties in the East Sea includes details on how to implement the code, the area of ​​application, the monitoring and reporting mechanism as well as the dispute settlement mechanism.

According to the sources, the proposed code of conduct would be “applicable in all unresolved maritime areas between the parties concerned in the South China Sea.”

ASEAN sources said that in order to build trust, the draft Code of Conduct stipulates that relevant parties should not conduct military exercises, monitor or take "provocative" actions./.

According to (Vietnam+) - DT