still at an early stage, the document raised hopes for a peaceful resolution to the overlapping claims in the South China Sea...Nusa Dua, Bali (ANTARA News) - ASEAN and China have finally reached agreement on the guidelines for the implementation of the Declaration of Conduct (DoC) for South China Sea claimant countries, a senior Chinese official said.
"We agree on the guidelines of the implementation of DoC, in addition to that, the foreign ministers of China and ASEAN will soon formally endorse the guidelines," China's Assistant to Foreign Affairs Minister Liu Zhenmin said after attending the ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting here on Thursday.
Liu added ASEAN and China were expected to soon start the implementation of the DoC and discuss upcoming projects that they would initiate. "China is going to host the next joint working group meeting with ASEAN some time in November and we are going to articulate areas of cooperation and start the implementation of the projects," he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa welcomed the progress reached in the efforts to solve the South China Sea conflict saying that the next move that needed to be taken was trying to restore peace and stability in the situation in the South China Sea.
Asked about the content of the draft, Marty briefly said it would regulate the implementation of the DoC.
Earlier, the assistant to the Vietnamese Foreign Affairs Minister, Pham Quang Vinh, had said he welcomed the recent progress saying that "This is a significant and good start for us to work together to continue dialogue and cooperation with a view to further promoting stability and confidence in the region,"
Echoing similar sentiments, China`s Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said the officials would submit what they had approved to their respective ministers for final endorsement.
"This is an important milestone document on cooperation among China and ASEAN countries," Liu told reporters. "And we have a bright future and we are looking forward to future cooperation."
Although still at an early stage, the document raised hopes for a peaceful resolution to the overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
China and some ASEAN countries, namely the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia have been in a dispute with regard to their claim on some oil and gas rich islands in the South China Sea area including Spratly and Paracel Islands. (ANT)
Editor: Ade P Marboen
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