Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo said that both China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are committed to finalize the Code of Conduct (COC) on the South China Sea by next year, but clarified that whether that will be legally binding for all parties remain to be a contentious issue.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2025/4/24/manalo-asean-china-committed-to-finalize-south-china-sea-code-by-2026
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READ: https://mb.com.ph/2025/4/24/manalo-asean-china-committed-to-finalize-south-china-sea-code-by-2026
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NewsTranscript
00:00Just briefly shift to another topic. Earlier I said you were asked by the defense press
00:07or if China has a political commitment to have the COC legally binding or may ganoon bang wording palaga?
00:17I think what we, maybe what was misunderstood, we are committed to see whether we can finalize negotiations on the code by the timeline was set next year.
00:29So during our chairmanship. So we will do our best to see how if we can finalize negotiations or at least finalize the code by next year in order to meet the timeline that was agreed.
00:44Finalize the code, not legally binding.
00:46Well, that's an issue. Just finalize the code.
00:49What's the next milestone that we want to discuss?
00:52Well, if possible we will discuss as many of the milestone issues that we can discuss because they are all related to the code.
00:59So this would include also the scope of the coverage, the relationship of the code with the DOC,
01:09the relationship with the countries who are not parties to the code, and then of course you have the nature of the code,
01:18whether it will be legally binding or not. But our position has always been the code should be effective and substantive.
01:25Sir, yung One China policy, maintained pa rin yun kahit may malakay niyang order na yung naging eastern restrictions?
01:30Of course, we maintain the One China policy.
01:32So.
01:33Okay.