President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has called on the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) to hasten their negotiations on the ASEAN-China Code of Conduct (COC) amid the increasing tension and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

“In our view, there should be more urgency in the pace of the negotiations of the ASEAN-China Code of Conduct (COC),” Marcos made the call during his intervention at the 27th ASEAN-China Summit in Laos.

The President cited that the “core elements of the COC, such as the milestone issues of geographic scope, the relationship between the COC and DOC, and its legal nature to this day remain outstanding” are critical to addressing maritime disagreements in the SCS.

“It is time that we tackle these milestone issues directly so we can make substantive progress moving forward,” said Marcos.

He also lamented the overall situation in the West Philippine Sea (WPS)“remains tense and unchanged” despite the Philippines’ recent engagement with China through a Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) on the SCS, adding that the Philippines “continued to be subjected to harassment and intimidation.”

Marcos mentioned several incidents where the lives of Filipino navies and coast guards were harmed due to the China Coast Guard’s dangerous actions in the West Philippine Sea.

The President also raised the series of intimidations by China’s gray ships against the Philippines’ civilian vessels and aircraft conducting “legal maritime operations’ in the WPS.