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The Philippines wants to seal South China Sea code of conduct. Can it deliver?
As 2026 Asean chair, Manila has highlighted its push to finalise within its term a code of conduct covering the contested waters
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The South China Sea continues to act as a lightning rod for competing claims among regional powers. In the second of a three-part series, Fan Chen and Laura Zhou examine how frayed China-Philippines relations might create a ‘challenging context’ for Manila’s aims to finalise an effective and legally binding code. Read the first part of the series here.
The Philippine push to seal a legally binding code of conduct in the South China Sea is more symbolic than achievable because of the deep-seated disputes in the region, analysts have said.
Manila, which took over the rotating Asean chair on January 1, has said that finalising the agreement is a priority.
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Earlier this month, Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China would increase the pace of working group meetings to monthly gatherings from the current three-month intervals to finalise the code of conduct this year.
However, diplomatic observers said fundamental disagreements about the document’s legal nature and a 2016 international tribunal that ruled against Beijing made a deal unlikely.
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Lucio Blanco Pitlo, president of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies, said frayed relations between Manila and Beijing “would create a challenging context” for a China-Asean agreement.
Tensions between the two countries have been escalating for over a year with a series of confrontations.
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