(VOVworld) - The 6th ASEAN-China Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) and the 9th ASEAN-China Joint Working Group meeting on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) were held in Suzhou, China, over the weekend.
Pham Quang Vinh, Deputy Foreign Minister, headed the Vietnamese delegation. In addition to reviewing and boosting implementation of the DOC, ASEAN and China talked about the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) at the SOM level for the first time in line with a decision made at the Ministerial Meeting in Brunei on June 30. Senior ASEAN and China officials agreed to fully comply with the DOC and the Declaration on the 10^th anniversary of the DOC to enhance trust, ensure navigation safety and security, and peacefully resolve disputes in the East Sea. The officials agreed to organize follow-up consultation meetings and approved a plan to implement the DOC in 2013-2014 including scheduled SOM and Joint Working Group meetings, cooperative initiatives within the DOC, preparation to open a hotline, and meetings on search and rescue, navigation safety and information, sea science and technology, and the East Sea ecological resource protection. The officials said the first COC talks at ASEAN-China SOM level was a positive and significant start.

Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh commented on the prospect of COC negotiations between ASEAN and China. "Ensuring peace and stability and resolving disputes in the East Sea is not an easy process. It’s also not easy to discuss the COC with an ASEAN approach. It will be a long path and both sides will need to exchange ideas to ensure the best results for peace, stability, and maritime safety in the East Sea and comply with international law. If both sides share the same view of ensuring peace and stability in the East Sea, we can make process regardless of future complications. Every step will bring us closer to the COC.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Vinh supported ASEAN’s view that a COC is necessary to guarantee peace, security, and maritime safety, prevent and manage conflicts, and resolve disputes by peaceful means based on international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.