Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Enrique Manalo, conveyed this on the sidelines of the 56th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Manalo also said that the Philippines would likely raise the issue during the political security meeting.
According to him, the CoC negotiation will be a long process since there are many issues that need to be settled.
However, in general, all parties have the political will to complete the process, he observed.
Furthermore, he emphasized that in responding to the South China Sea issue, the Philippines has always prioritized ASEAN centralization and advanced dialogue with all dialogue partners, including China.
The Philippines is one of the countries that are often in dispute with China over the South China Sea.
China claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea area on the basis of a nine-dash line that cuts across the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam.
The Philippines won an arbitration case in 2016 that invalidated China's claims in the South China Sea.
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Translator: Yashinta Difa, Raka Adji
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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