It appears that a code of conduct in settling territorial dispute in the region is easier said than done as  China and Southeast Asian countries struggled to make progress yesterday on the code designed to ease tension in the flashpoint South China Sea.
Diplomatic sources said the two sides were due to meet at a summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Cambodia amid splits on what the code should include and how it should be implemented.
A source spoke of “splits and divisions” in the organization, principally between the Philippines and the chairman of the meeting, staunch Chinese ally Cambodia.
A joint statement to be issued by Asean foreign ministers was also held up as countries wrangled over whether to include a reference to recent spats over the resource-rich area pitting China against Vietnam and the Philippines.
“Asean foreign ministers are having an emergency meeting to resolve the wording on the South China Sea in the joint statement,” one Asian diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa admitted the debate about whether to mention recent incidents, including a standoff between Philippine and Chinese ships last month over Scarborough Shoal, remained a sticking point.
The shoal, an outcrop in the South China Sea, is claimed by both countries.
“It’s very important for us to express our concern with what happened whether it be at the shoals, whether it be at the continental shelves,” he told reporters.
“But more importantly than simply responding to the past is to move forward to ensure that these kind of events no longer occur.”
The Philippines is leading a push for Asean  to unite to persuade China to accept a code of conduct based on a UN law on maritime boundaries that would delineate the areas belonging to each country.
Beijing has said it is prepared to discuss a more limited code aimed at “building trust and deepening cooperation” but not one that settles the territorial disputes, which it wants to negotiate with each country separately.
Asean  Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan told reporters the fact the code was under discussion “is already having a calming effect on all parties.”
Efforts to produce one began 10 years ago, but nations were now engaging seriously and efforts were being made to “move along,” he said.
Planned talks between Asean and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Liechi were repeatedly delayed, however, with a meeting originally scheduled for the morning slipping to a late afternoon slot.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to arrive in Cambodia for a wider regional Asian summit on Thursday, with Washington also pushing for progress on reducing friction in a key shipping lane that is vital to the world economy.
“We look to Asean to make rapid progress with China toward an effective code of conduct in order to ensure that as challenges arise, they are managed and resolved peacefully,” Clinton said in Vietnam on Tuesday.
She said that the South China Sea would be discussed alongside other areas of mutual concern at the Asean  Regional Forum (ARF), which groups 26 Asia-Pacific countries and the European Union and starts Thursday.
This risks irking Beijing after the Chinese foreign ministry warned on Tuesday against “hyping” the problem and said it should be kept out of the summit.
“This South China Sea issue is not an issue between China and Asean , but between China and some Asean  countries,” foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told reporters.
“Hyping the South China Sea issue... is against the common aspirations of the people and the main trends of the time to seek development and cooperation.”
Malacañang, however, remains optimistic that China would keep its options open to the proposed Code of Conduct (CoC) governing territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea which is both being claimed by the neighboring Asian countries as theirs.
“We hope they will be receptive to the idea as well. Hopefully it will be received well (by Beijing),” deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte said in a press briefing held in Malacañang.
“In the first instance, China has also been of the position that it should be settled peacefully. Everybody agreed on that,” Valte added.
The Philippine government has taken a position favoring the idea on Asean centrality in the creation of laws and guidelines on dispute settlement mechanism and the segregation of disputed and non-disputed areas following recent tensions with China over Recto Bank (Reed Bank) and Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal).
The Department of National Defense (DND) is banking on the crafting of a “more definitive” code of conduct by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on South China Sea to stop intrusions into Philippine-claimed territories in the disputed area.
At a press briefing, DND spokesman Peter Paul Galvez said that the DND fully supports the initiative of the Asean member-states during the foreign ministers meeting in Cambodia.
“It’s a welcome development that they (Asean) are making the code of conduct more definitive, more detailed… more binding. They want to give more teeth to the CoC which will redound to peace and security in the region. We’re supportive of this, we look forward to further development in this initiative,” said Galvez.
Also amid reports claiming to have sighted American spy planes flying over the West Philippine Seas and the Scarborough Shoal, Malacañang maintains silence on  issues which have anything to do with the country’s territorial rift with China.
“I’ll have to verify those reports first. What I saw is that there were aircrafts that were last commissioned to fly in 2006 which we have no information on. I will have to check if that is… If our military has that information” claims deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte in a press briefing in Malacañang.
The deputy palace mouthpiece also declined to provide Palace reporters with an update on the much awaited directive from the President over ideas embarking on the re-deployment of government ships at the tension-gripped Scarborough Shoal.
Fernan J. Angeles, Mario J. Mallari