LANGKAWI, Malaysia: The regional bloc ASEAN and China should make headway on a protracted code of conduct for the South China Sea by tackling thorny “milestone issues,” including its scope and if it can be legally binding, the Philippines’ top diplomat said on Saturday.
The South China Sea remains a source of tension between China and neighbors the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia, with ties between Beijing and US ally Manila at their worst in years amid frequent confrontations that have sparked concerns they could spiral into conflict.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China pledged in 2002 to create a code of conduct, but took 15 years to start discussions and progress has been slow.
In an interview ahead of Sunday’s meeting with his ASEAN counterparts on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said discussions on a code were well underway, but it was time to start thrashing out the meatier, trickier aspects.
“It’s time that we try to look at issues which are, in our view, essential, which have not really been discussed in a thorough way or even much less negotiated. These are the so-called milestone issues,” Manalo told Reuters.
Those would include the code’s scope, whether it is legally binding and its impact on third-party countries, he said, adding the aim was to make it effective and substantive.
“We have to begin addressing these important issues,” Manalo added. “This might be the best way to at least move the negotiation forward.”
Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, which it asserts through a fleet of coast guard and fishing militia that some neighbors accuse of aggression and of disrupting fishing and energy activities in their exclusive economic zones.
China insists it operates lawfully in its territory and does not recognize a 2016 arbitration ruling that said its claim has no basis under international law.
‘US interests are still there’
Manalo also said that as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, there was no sign the United States would reassess its engagement in Southeast Asia.
“We haven’t heard any or seen any indication of scaling down or any kind of particular change,” he said.
“We have to wait until the administration actually takes over. But from what we’ve seen so far, US interests are still there.”
Manalo said the civil war in military-ruled Myanmar remains a big challenge for ASEAN, which has barred the generals from meetings for failing to implement the bloc’s peace plan.
The junta plans to hold an election this year in which its opponents either cannot run, or refuse to contest.
Manalo said it was premature to discuss if ASEAN would make preconditions for recognizing the election, which he said must involve as much of the population as possible.
“If elections are held without being seen as inclusive, not transparent, I believe it would be very difficult for those elections to create more legitimacy,” he said.
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ASEAN and China must start tackling thorny issues of South China Sea code, Philippines says
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ASEAN and China must start tackling thorny issues of South China Sea code, Philippines says
- The South China Sea remains a source of tension between China and its ASEAN neighbors
- ASEAN and China pledged in 2002 to create a code of conduct, but took 15 years to start discussions and progress has been slow
Russian strikes cut heating to thousands of buildings in Kyiv amid freezing cold
Russia launched a combined drone and missile attack on Ukraine early on Tuesday, knocking out power and heating supplies to thousands of apartment buildings in Kyiv amid freezing temperatures, Ukrainian officials said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Russian attacks cut heating supplies to 5,635 multi-story residential apartment buildings.
One person was wounded, debris damaged a school building, and water supplies were disrupted on the left bank of the city of more than 3 million people, he said.
Regional officials said one person was killed in attacks in the wider Kyiv region and two petrol stations damaged.
It was the second major attack on the energy sector and other critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital so far this month as temperatures hover well below zero Celsius.
“Thousands of houses are without heating in Kyiv at -15°C outside, following Russia’s mass strike overnight,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a message posted on X.
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s barbaric strike this morning is a wake-up call to world leaders gathering in Davos: support for the Ukrainian people is urgent.”
Sybiha reiterated the call for urgent additional energy assistance, air defense, and interceptors from Ukraine’s allies.
As the war with Russia approaches its four-year mark, diplomatic efforts to find a way to end the conflict have yielded no tangible results so far despite pressure from US President Donald Trump on both Kyiv and Moscow.
Kyiv has already been suffering from severe power and heating outages following previous strikes on the city earlier in January, and dozens of repair crews have worked around the clock for more than a week to restore supplies to residents.
Klitschko said that out of the buildings which were hit in the latest attack, 80 percent had already been struck in the previous attack.
Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a lawmaker from the Holos party, said on the Telegram app that parliament’s support office would work remotely today due to a lack of water and heating in the building. There were no parliamentary sessions scheduled on Tuesday.
Russian strikes also damaged energy and other critical infrastructure in Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava and Sumy regions, Sybiha said.
In the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, a production facility was hit, and two people were wounded, officials said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Russian attacks cut heating supplies to 5,635 multi-story residential apartment buildings.
One person was wounded, debris damaged a school building, and water supplies were disrupted on the left bank of the city of more than 3 million people, he said.
Regional officials said one person was killed in attacks in the wider Kyiv region and two petrol stations damaged.
It was the second major attack on the energy sector and other critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital so far this month as temperatures hover well below zero Celsius.
“Thousands of houses are without heating in Kyiv at -15°C outside, following Russia’s mass strike overnight,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a message posted on X.
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s barbaric strike this morning is a wake-up call to world leaders gathering in Davos: support for the Ukrainian people is urgent.”
Sybiha reiterated the call for urgent additional energy assistance, air defense, and interceptors from Ukraine’s allies.
As the war with Russia approaches its four-year mark, diplomatic efforts to find a way to end the conflict have yielded no tangible results so far despite pressure from US President Donald Trump on both Kyiv and Moscow.
Kyiv has already been suffering from severe power and heating outages following previous strikes on the city earlier in January, and dozens of repair crews have worked around the clock for more than a week to restore supplies to residents.
Klitschko said that out of the buildings which were hit in the latest attack, 80 percent had already been struck in the previous attack.
Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a lawmaker from the Holos party, said on the Telegram app that parliament’s support office would work remotely today due to a lack of water and heating in the building. There were no parliamentary sessions scheduled on Tuesday.
Russian strikes also damaged energy and other critical infrastructure in Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava and Sumy regions, Sybiha said.
In the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, a production facility was hit, and two people were wounded, officials said.
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