Contents of the Code of Conduct in the East Sea

(Baonghean.vn) - Question 42. Code of Conduct in the East Sea?

Reply:Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

Regarding the basic elements of the COC, ASEAN has clearly expressed its desire that the COC will be a more effective tool to contribute to peace, security and stability in the East Sea. Accordingly, ASEAN's general approach is that the COC needs to be based on and expanded upon the DOC. Specifically, the content of the COC will reflect:

- Principles of respecting international law, the UN Charter, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC),...

Drilling rig at Vietnam's Bach Ho field. Photo: PVN

- The objective of the COC is to create a framework based on the rule of law to regulate the conduct of parties in the East Sea according to the above principles.

- Obligations and conduct of parties in the East Sea: First of all, it must be for the goal of peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation, promoting cooperation to build trust, preventing the escalation of disputes and peacefully resolving disputes, on the basis of international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

At the same time, it emphasized the respect for the exclusive economic zones and continental shelves of coastal states according to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

- Mechanism to ensure the implementation of the COC, including establishing a mechanism to monitor and ensure the implementation of the COC, building mechanisms to handle violations of the COC and ensuring the settlement of disputes by peaceful means, on the basis of international law, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the TAC.

From ASEAN's perspective, the COC must both inherit the positive points of the DOC and be further enhanced based on the 10-year review of the DOC implementation and to meet the requirements of the new situation.

Thus, along with emphasizing the positive principles already contained in the DOC (peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation, settlement of disputes by peaceful means, respect for international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea), ASEAN hopes that the COC must be more committed and binding than the DOC, must have a monitoring and implementation mechanism, especially adding provisions emphasizing the principle of respecting the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of coastal states according to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The ASEAN document on the main elements of the COC mentioned above will be the basis for ASEAN to exchange its views with China.

However, it must be affirmed that this is only the viewpoint from ASEAN. Therefore, ASEAN still has to negotiate specifically with China and this process will not be easy because the viewpoints of the parties are very different, it is not easy to reach a consensus overnight.

We know that the DOC was conceived and approved at the expert level in the 1990s. However, it was not until 2002 that China signed this document with ASEAN more than 10 years later. And it took another 9 years for the Guidelines for the Implementation of a Declaration signed 10 years earlier to be authenticated. Why did China have to wait so many years to negotiate these important documents (since 1990)? Why did the negotiations take so long to reach an agreement (since 2002)? And when will China and ASEAN sign the final document that the region and the world are eagerly awaiting: the COC?

The recent tensions in the East Sea stem from China’s unilateral decisions within the sea area enclosed by the “cow tongue line”. Chinese coast guard and fisheries surveillance ships have arrested or threatened Vietnamese and Philippine fishing boats, prevented exploration vessels from these two countries, and even repeatedly cut the oil and gas exploration cables of Vietnamese ships right in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. That is the root cause of all frustrations in the region and the world. Therefore, the road from DOC to COC is still long.

Nearly 20 years have passed, but no one can predict how long it will take for the parties to reach a COC; that is, a higher level of acceptance, with international legal binding, regulating the conduct of the parties in the East Sea. The path from DOC to COC, even with additional guidelines, is still ahead. Because the maritime border claim according to the "cow tongue line" has been formalized by the Chinese Government's Note to the UN and by pressure activities on the ground to gain de facto recognition of their unreasonable claim.

According to Q&A on Vietnam's Law of the Sea

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