That objectionable provisions excluding the Western military presence… they’re not holding on to that anymore.

The first draft of the long-awaited Code of Conduct (CoC) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) that is expected to put order to the areas subject to multiple claims has been completed, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. reported.

The Filipino top diplomat, at a speaking engagement in the Asia Society Policy Institute based in New York City, said China has “softened its insistence on controversial provisions” that seek to bar external military presence in the strategic waters.

“We’ve completed the first draft. That objectionable provisions excluding the Western military presence… they’re not holding on to that anymore,” he said during a dialogue with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Locsin said President Rodrigo Duterte himself asked the state parties to rush the negotiations and the talks “went smoothly after.”

Earlier reports, citing a draft document between China and the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member-states, said Beijing proposed the creation of a notification mechanism on military activities whenever necessary.

Although the text did not specifically mention “Western” military, the provision sought the exclusion of countries outside the region “unless the parties concerned are notified beforehand and express no objection.”

Locsin, however, did not indicate the steps that will be taken following the release of the first CoC draft.

“The first draft is really just the first draft. We won’t know what it’s like. I do know that many countries like Vietnam, even Singapore, will take very strong exception to anything that would remove a counterbalancing military presence in the region. They’re very careful about that,” he said.

For the Secretary, the CoC’s first draft is a development that is “shorn of anything objectionable to Western interest.”

Malacañang also dismissed as speculation the recent remarks made by Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio that China would attempt to seize parts of the Scarborough Shoal before Mr. Duterte steps down in 2022.

Carpio, in a media forum last Wednesday, claimed it is not impossible for Beijing to build artificial islands in the disputed territory because “the President said ‘I cannot stop China.’”

“Was he saying that as a matter of observation, or is he saying that as a matter (of fact) because he has access to the Chinese government?” the President’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said. “Can you read the mind of the Chinese government?”

Panelo went further by reiterating that the Philippine government will continue to assert its claim to the Scarborough Shoal, which is well within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), by virtue of a 2016 decision handed down by the United Nations-recognized Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).

“Definitely, like what the President said, ‘I will not allow during my incumbency any assault on our sovereignty.’ That arbitral ruling is final, binding and not subject to appeal. That’s what he said,” stated the spokesman.

Anything that will go against the arbitral ruling, Panelo stressed, “would be objectionable” to the Duterte administration.

“Because we are against any intrusion into the sovereign affairs of the land. If you’re going to build there, when the arbitral ruling says it’s ours, then you’re violating it,” he said.

He also shrugged off Carpio’s warning that China may be looking to “trap” the Philippines and the rest of the ASEAN into finalizing the CoC “to replace the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) settlement mechanism.”

Carpio projects China will make a move on Scarborough Shoal before signing the CoC and invoke it later on to prevent its artificial islands from being attacked.

“This fraternity brod of mine, he is very fond of engaging in speculations. What is important is China is being pressured in a sense, because remember, the President when he went to Beijing said that he will raise that issue to the President of China, that a Code of Conduct should now be crafted; and the President of China acceded,” Panelo said.

He also expressed confidence that China and the ASEAN would take significant strides towards the conclusion of the CoC come the next ASEAN Summit to be held in Bangkok, Thailand in late October.

“Hopefully, considering that even the President of China has agreed with the President that there is a need for stability and peace of the region, there must be a Code of Conduct,” noted the official.