The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has spilled over into regional geopolitics, threatening to delay the completion of the elusive Code of Conduct (COC) for the South China Sea, with ASEAN and Chinese officials unable to meet face-to-face at the negotiating table.

With countries closing their borders and physical distancing measures taking effect around the world to prevent the further spread of COVID-19, restrictions on international travel and face-to-face meetings have necessitated the use of virtual diplomacy.

However, Indonesia’s point man for ASEAN affairs, Jose Tavares, has insisted that negotiations on the COC would require officials from both sides to be physically present in one place.

“It will be very hard to negotiate the COC draft virtually, so we’ll wait until the situation improves and we can resume the talks [in person],” Jose told reporters on Wednesday.

Experts have alluded to the “ASEAN Way” of diplomacy that espouses both collective bargaining and building personal relationships based on mutual trust — two strategies that are invariably best served by face-to-face interactions.

Before the viral outbreak occurred, ASEAN and China had scheduled a series of meetings around the region, first in Brunei in February, followed by negotiations in the Philippines in May, Indonesia in August and China in October.

However, all meetings were postponed due to the pandemic, as countries in the region looked inward to mitigate the crisis.

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