ASEAN foreign ministers met online last week to discuss various regional matters including progress on the COC – a requirement from the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the South China Sea that remains elusive nearly two decades later.

Officials from both sides were looking at the possibility of having their negotiators meet in person, as opposed to engaging virtually, which has become the new norm under the COVID-19 pandemic, said Sidharto Suryodipuro, the Foreign Ministry’s director general for ASEAN affairs.

“There’s an urgency to continue the talks because of the delays in the past year,” he told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

The COC underpins efforts to prevent all-out conflict among South China Sea claimants, who are locked in overlapping territorial disputes in the busy trade route.

China has made sweeping yet illegal claims over much of the sea, including in areas also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. Indonesia, while not a claimant itself, has protested against China’s forays into waters under its economic jurisdiction.

In late 2018, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang proposed a timeline of three years to conclude the COC talks, after the two sides agreed to work on a single negotiated draft text after years of political impasse.

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