The commander of the United States Pacific Command has indicated support for the Philippines’ call for a binding code of conduct among parties in the disputed territories in the South China Sea, GMA News “24 Oras” reported on Friday.
The report quoted Locklear as saying complications in the disputed territories would have been prevented if a binding code of conduct had already been adopted.
China in 2002 signed a non-binding declaration with ASEAN member-countries including the Philippines, indicating among others that the parties agree not to build structures in the disputed areas to prevent increasing tension in the region.
The Philippines on Friday urged neighboring countries to hasten the adoption of a Code of Conduct that will serve as a rules-based guiding principle for countries regarding their activities in the disputed areas west of the archipelago.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Laura Del Rosario stressed before thousands of business and political leaders from around the world the urgency to come up with the COC as environmental and man-made factors are fast altering the baselines of countries who have claims in the disputed territory.
While she didn’t name China, Del Rosario said construction works being undertaken in the South China Sea might be the way of these “people” to create a new baseline.
“There are a lot of build-ups, a lot of constructions going on, until we realize that people are already doing some kind of a fencing ground, about what they are going to define as a baseline for the code of conduct,” Del Rosario said during the forum.
Under the United Nations Conventions on the Laws of the Sea, the baseline is used in determining the territorial waters of a country.
