KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said Chinese Premier Li Qiang has agreed to accelerate talks on the South China Sea Code of Conduct (COC) with Asean member states.
Anwar said the Chinese leader’s remarks came after the bloc stressed that all maritime disputes in the South China Sea be resolved based on a mutually-agreed code of conduct during the recent Asean-China Summit.
“All agreed that this region should not be an area of contestation for superpowers,” Anwar told reporters after the closing ceremony of the 47th Asean Summit and Related Summits, here, today.
“Their presence is accepted. We work with some maritime initiatives with the Americans and conduct traditional military exercises with Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore.
“We have also increased maritime collaborations with China and that’s how it works.
“Malaysia will never allow presence of any foreign military force that we deem to be provocative against us because it is inconsistent with the policy of (Asean) centrality,” he explained.
Asean and China signed the non-binding Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in 2002.
Both parties decided to initiate talks for a legally-binding COC in 2013 and reportedly completed the second reading of the draft in 2023.
In July this year, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi reportedly said both parties are hoping to complete consultations on the COC in 2026.
