It is time to implement the Code of Conduct (CoC) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), even if that means moving forward without China.

For the nth time, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit ended without a concrete breakthrough on the CoC, despite the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) insisting that negotiations on the long-delayed agreement are “making encouraging progress.”

Yet again, after the Cebu Summit, ASEAN admitted it would fail to meet the 2026 deadline for the CoC.

Enough is enough. ASEAN and China have danced around a binding CoC for so long while Beijing’s gray-zone aggression escalates.

China’s stalling has impeded the “progress” because of its impossible demands, such as setting aside the landmark 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), which invalidated its nine-dash line claim.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had presented a formula: If China continues to sabotage a genuine CoC, ASEAN should draft its own — without Beijing at the table.

The Chief Executive delivered the solution in Honolulu, since he admitted that negotiations with China had stalled because Beijing insisted on terms that violated international law.

Beijing brandishes the toothless 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DoC) to impose its will in the region.

The PCA award that China wanted ignored is based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which clarifies maritime entitlements.

Beijing’s response to Marcos’ candor has been predictably thuggish: wielding economic leverage against Malaysia and Vietnam to peel them away, while employing the excuse that Vietnam hasn’t filed its own arbitration case.

China had employed a coercive playbook, water cannons, militia vessels, and mapping absurdities against the Philippines over Ayungin Shoal, an area squarely within the latter country’s exclusive economic zone.

A unified ASEAN CoC that initially excludes China would create a formidable regional bloc capable of negotiating from strength rather than having to beg Beijing for each concession.

It would signal that the region refuses to let one power dictate terms on the vital trade route.

The Marcos solution will end the charade of endless talks designed to run out the clock while China consolidates control.

The President was accused of instigating tensions over the proposal, while Beijing ignores UNCLOS, militarizes artificial islands, and interferes with Philippine resupply missions in its own backyard.

When the Philippines conducts naval exercises with the United States under longstanding treaty obligations, Beijing howls about “third parties.”

Regarding the naval exercises, China does not have the right to interfere with the Philippines’ exercise of its treaty obligations.

De-escalation has a simple first step: Beijing acknowledging the 2016 arbitral award and abandoning its discredited historical claims.

The friction simmering in the West Philippine Sea will cool down if the Asian power engages on equal terms, not as an overlord.

ASEAN must choose between the slow-walk charade that emboldens coercion and following Marcos’ lead to build a rules-based framework.

The time for polite delay is over. Marcos’s formula is the path to dignity and deterrence.

ASEAN should seize it.