Water Wars: China Displays Diplomatic Skill and Military Might

Aug 7, 2017 | Eliot Kim and Jared Dummitt
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ASEAN and China took a step forward last week in their long quest for a Code of Conduct on the South China Sea, while the People’s Liberation Army flexed its muscles on its 90th anniversary. Foreign ministers from Southeast Asia and more than a dozen other countries gathered in Manila over the weekend for the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting on Saturday and the ASEAN Regional Forum on Monday. On Saturday, the foreign ministers of the 10 ASEAN member states and China formally endorsed a framework Code of Conduct (COC) for the South China Sea. Representatives of the 10 ASEAN member states and China agreed on this framework in May, but the text was not released then. In a sign of behind-the-scenes discontent, however, the parties were unable to release a joint statement Saturday as originally scheduled. Part of the reason for the delay is reportedly Vietnam's insistence that ASEAN take a stronger stance against Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea.