By Anadolu staff
ANKARA(AA) - The Philippines urged the fast-tracking of the ASEAN-China Code of Conduct (CoC) on Thursday because of Beijing’s “continued harassment and intimidation” in the South China Sea, according to the Manila Times.
The request was made by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during the 27th ASEAN-China Summit in the Laotian capital of Vientiane.
The CoC’s core elements, including the milestone issues of geographic scope, remain “outstanding," he said. "It is time that we tackle these milestone issues directly so we can make substantive progress moving forward.
It is “regrettable that the overall situation in the South China Sea remains tense and unchanged" despite a “positive” development with China, he said. "We continue to be subjected to harassment and intimidation.”
Philippines’ vessels in the Escoda Shoal during a routine maritime patrol. And on three separate occasions, China blasted horns, used water cannons and rammed maritime vessels in August.
He alleged that China's “aggression and intimidation demonstrated the continued disregard of international law and standards, particularly UNCLOS and the 1972 Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS)."
"Such behavior is not unnoticed by our respective publics and the international community as well. That they will require a concerted and urgent effort to adopt measures to prevent their recurrence," he added.
Tensions concerning the South China Sea have been escalating as the Philippines seeks stronger military cooperation with the US and its allies in response to China’s growing assertiveness in the area.
The sea -- a crucial passage for a significant portion of the world’s commercial shipping -- is bordered by Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Due to its economic and geostrategic importance, the South China Sea is a venue of several complex territorial disputes that have been the cause of political as well as military conflict and tension in the region and throughout the Indo-Pacific.