(VOVWORLD) - Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son has delivered key notes on the East Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea, and reiterated ASEAN’s principle viewpoints.
 The ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Retreat (Photo: VOV) |
At the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Retreat which concluded on Thursday in Cambodia, Mr. Son stressed the importance of ensuring peace, security, and safety of navigation and overflight in the waters; complying with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), so as to maintain the East Sea as a sea of peace, stability, and cooperation; continuing to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC); and soon achieving a substantive and effective Code of Conduct (COC) that matches international law.
The Vietnamese FM proposed mutual recognition of vaccine certificates in the region, and effective use of the ASEAN Fund for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.
Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Teodoro Locsin Jr. said the COC will determine actions that countries can take in disputed areas, which should be inclusive and not give undue advantage to any nation. Locsin said the Philippines wants an early conclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea.