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resident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Sunday after wrapping up the 18th ASEAN Summit that member countries of the organization wished to accelerate the process of establishing a more legally concrete set of rules regarding the South China Sea.

The South China Sea has been  a matter of territorial dispute involving a number of countries, including China, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.

“Almost all ASEAN leaders think that it’s about time we have something that binds all nations that are claiming a number of areas in the South China Sea, so that everything can be handled properly without creating undesirable conflicts,” Yudhoyono said.

ASEAN and China already established a Declaration of Conduct (DOC) on the matter in 2002. However, the declaration is yet to translate into more concrete rules.

“We want a code of conduct [COC]. More than 10 years have passed. We want to accelerate the process. That’s the spirit and  thinking of ASEAN. We know that there are certain tensions, but ASEAN’s perspectives will not worsen the tension. The ASEAN forum will not be a stage for rivalry,” Yudhoyono said.

The leaders stressed within a statement that “continuing positive ASEAN-China engagement is essential in moving forward the DOC issue.”

It said that the ASEAN leaders were also committed to resolving disputes by peaceful means, in line with the DOC spirit, and recognize the principles of international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“We recognized that territorial and jurisdictional disputes are best addressed bilaterally among the parties concerned. On Timor Leste’s application to become member of ASEAN, the grouping’s leaders decided to discuss the proposal during the next summit slated to be held in Bali in November.

The leaders assigned its foreign ministers to assess the readiness of Timor Leste and the preparedness of ASEAN member countries to accept the country.

“During the summit in Bali, we will hear recommendations from ministers on processes of integrating Timor Leste into ASEAN with regards to the preparedness [of both parties],” he said at the same press conference.

Yudhoyono said that Timor Leste formally proposed to him, as present acting ASEAN chair, to accelerate the process of integrating the nations into ASEAN.

“The leaders, in principle, agreed to have Timor Leste [as a new member] because geographically and geo-economically, it is located within the region,” he said.

He said that the summit discussed matters regarding the preparedness of Timor Leste in term of its capacity to fulfill its responsibility as
member and the preparedness of ASEAN to accept the membership of Timor Leste.

“I said that we have to help build the capacity of Timor Leste, so that when the time comes it can become a member of ASEAN.”

— Sri Wahyuni contributed  to the story