<\/p>\n
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. called on the ASEAN member states to fast-track the ASEAN-China Code of Conduct (COC) to advance meaningful progress amid China\u2019s continued aggression and harassment in Philippine waters.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIn our view, there should be more urgency in the pace of the negotiations of the ASEAN-China Code of Conduct (COC),\u201d President Marcos said in his intervention during the 27th ASEAN-China Summit in Laos.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n President Marcos emphasized that \u201ccore elements of the COC, such as the milestone issues of geographic scope, the relationship between the COC and DOC, and its legal nature to this day remain outstanding.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The President also stood firm that \u201cthe definition of a concept as basic as \u201cself-restraint\u201d does not yet enjoy consensus.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt is time that we tackle these milestone issues directly so we can make substantive progress moving forward,\u201d Chief Executive added.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Despite a positive development with China, President Marcos said that \u201cit is regrettable that the overall situation in the South China Sea remains tense and unchanged.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to be subjected to harassment and intimidation,\u201d President Marcos said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cParties must be earnestly open to seriously managing the differences and to reduce tensions,\u201d he added.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In August this year, President Marcos said that Philippine vessels endured aggression and harassment from the China Coast Guard in the Escoda Shoal during a routine maritime patrol, and on the three separate occasions, it blasted horns, used water cannons and rammed maritime vessels.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The President also shared an incident where civilian fisheries vessels and aircraft were targeted by lasers and subjected to intimidation by the People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) missile ships of China.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n President Marcos stood firm that China\u2019s aggression and intimidation \u201cdemonstrates the continued disregard of international law and standards, particularly UNCLOS and the 1972 Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS).\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSuch behavior is not unnoticed by our respective publics and the international community as well. That they will require a concerted and urgent effort to adopt measures to prevent their recurrence,\u201d President Marcos said.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Despite China\u2019s intimidation, President Marcos reaffirmed the Philippines\u2019 unwavering commitment to deepening and extending ASEAN-China relations \u201cin a comprehensive manner, thereby contributing further to the region\u2019s long-term peace, development and cooperation.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. called on the ASEAN member states to fast-track the ASEAN-China Code of Conduct (COC) to advance meaningful progress amid China’s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9157,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9155\/revisions\/9157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}