The situation in the South China Sea is still complicated but a positive is that China and ASEAN countries have committed to start talks on the Code of Conduct (CoC) to handle the over-lapping territorial claims, Vietnamese envoy Ton Sinh Thanh said on Tuesday. "The situation there (South China Sea) is still complicated. The development there is positive, especially (with) the framework for the CoC (that) has been approved by both China and ASEAN. In November last year, China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) formally endorsed the framework adopted by their foreign ministers in August for a code of conduct (COC) to handle overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea. China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam have over-lapping territorial claims in the sea, known to be rich in hydrocarbons.

Source: dna February 27, 2018 13:41 UTC