It is high time to finalize the Code of Conduct (CoC) for the West Philippine Sea (WPS), which has lingered in uncertainty since 1992, Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro said Friday.

As chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Philippines will seek to accelerate long-running talks this year on binding rules for the disputed maritime area.

Lazaro told a forum in Singapore that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China will increase the pace of working group meetings to monthly gatherings from the current three‑month intervals.

The code has been under discussion for about three decades, but the talks have stalled repeatedly over disagreements on its scope, enforcement and legal status.

On 22 July 1992, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) issued the Manila Declaration on WPS, urging nations with competing claims to exercise restraint, resolve disputes peacefully, and explore a CoC.

By 4 November 2002, ASEAN and China signed the non-binding Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It commits parties to peaceful resolution, self-restraint, and working toward a future binding COC.

The DOC lacks enforcement mechanisms, leading to inconsistent implementation and no immediate progress on a CoC.

In August 2017, ASEAN and China adopted a framework for the CoC that outlined a basic structure but lacked details on enforcement or scope, representing minimal progress amid disputes over whether to include United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) precedents and whether to exclude external parties like the US.

From 2022 to 2024, negotiations proceeded slowly with second and third readings of the draft text, but no binding CoC emerged.

The stubborn hurdles included disputes over the applicable areas, the legal effectiveness of the 2016 arbitral ruling, and its incorporation, alongside escalating tensions from Chinese coast guard actions and US freedom-of-navigation operations.

Last January, China and the Philippines reported advancing negotiations on a CoC “road map,” with Manila aiming to complete it by year’s end. However, broader ASEAN-China talks remain unresolved, with no final agreement yet.

The main stumbling block, however, is China’s claim to the crucial waterway almost in its entirety, despite a 2016 international ruling that its stance has no legal basis.

Skirmishes continue

Beijing and Manila have had a series of confrontations in the sea in recent years, including collisions and Chinese ships using water cannons on Filipino vessels.

Lazaro said there will also be additional meetings between senior officials under the new schedule.

She told the forum organized by a Singapore-based think tank that the goal was to produce a code that is “effective and substantive” and in line with international law.

“This year, we will endeavor to conclude the ASEAN-China Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea,” Lazaro said, in line with a mandate agreed by ASEAN foreign ministers in 2023.

“I have to emphasize the word ‘endeavor’ to finish. As I said, I’m an optimist and also a pragmatist because we really don’t know how things will work.”

The Philippines took over as chair of the 11‑nation bloc from Malaysia in January.

Lazaro said momentum in the talks has improved, with several ASEAN member states recently submitting documents and proposals to guide the next stage of discussions.

She said some of the most contentious issues included whether the code should be legally binding, the agreement’s geographical scope, and the definition of terms such as “self‑restraint.”

“ASEAN and China have heavily invested in negotiating this code of conduct,” she said.