ASEAN, China officials convene meeting on DOC
(VOVWORLD) - The 14th Senior Officials’ Meeting on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea took place in Guiyang city, in the Guizhou province of China on Thursday. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin and his Singaporean counterpart Chee Wee Kiong chaired the meeting.
Senior diplomatic officials from the ASEAN countries and China discussed implementation of the DOC, pushing forward maritime cooperation and issues related to the negotiations on the Code of Conduct in the East Sea. They praised outcomes of trust building measures and preventive diplomacy at sea, in particular a hot line operation between Foreign Ministries of ASEAN member states and China. Speaking in the event, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung emphasized on the full and efficient implementation of the DOC and contribution to a draft COC. He asked relevant parties to refrain from using force or threat to use force, and peacefully settle disputes based on international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, for peace and stability in the East Sea.