Lokshin Grigory

The Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (SOS) – is it an illusion or a distracting maneuver?

ЮГО-ВОСТОЧНАЯ АЗИЯ: АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ, 2017, №34, 40-60

 
Annotation: In September 2016 the ASEAN countries achieved to get an obligation from China to conclude the talks on the framework draft of the Code of conduct of Parties (COC) in the South China Sea (SCS). It should replace the Declaration signed in Phnom Penh in 2002 (DOC) which proved to be too weak. The article is devoted to an analyses of positions of all Parties in the process of elaboration of the COC, to perspectives of its adoption and significance. In conclusion the author comes to the opinion that the adoption of the COC under the present conditions is unrealistic and the talks on it are used by the ones mainly as destracting maneuvering and by the others as the way to keep a dialog with China on security going.

Keywords: South China Sea, ASEAN, UNCLOS 1982 Declaration 2002, Directives for implementation of DOC 2002, Code of Parties Conduct in the SCS, Conclusion of the Permanent Arbitration in the Hague