Code of conduct 'to take time' as another run-in ups tensions

Southeast Asian countries' quest to reach agreement with China on a code of conduct in the contested South China Sea will take time, with difficult issues yet to be resolved despite recent efforts to accelerate the process, Singapore's prime minister said yesterday at a regional summit.

China's increasing military assertiveness in the busy waterway toward neighbors with competing territorial claims has been high on the agenda of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. The three-day summit, being hosted in Melbourne to mark 50 years since Australia became ASEAN's first external partner, ends today.

Leaders of the 10-nation bloc hope a code of conduct with China would be key to reducing the risk of naval confrontations.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said a first draft of the code had been written, but the final document would take time.

"They have reached a point, I think, of a first complete read-through of the code of conduct, but to negotiate and to settle the code, I believe would take some time," Lee said.

"The issues are not easy to resolve and, really, negotiating of a code of conduct inevitably raises issues of what the ultimate outcomes are going to be, and therefore, because the ultimate answers are difficult, so too negotiating the code will take quite some time," Lee said.

The Philippines said yesterday that China coast guard vessels caused two collisions with its boats and water cannoned one of them, leaving four crew injured during a resupply mission in the South China Sea.

Manila summoned a Chinese representative over the incidents, which happened in waters around Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.

The China coast guard said it "took control measures" against Philippine ships' "illegal intrusion" in waters around the shoal.

The BRP Sindangan, along with a sister ship, had been deployed to support the military chartered Unaizah May 4 and Unaizah May 1 boats carrying replacement soldiers and supplies to Second Thomas Shoal, where Filipino troops are stationed on a grounded Philippine navy vessel, the BRP Sierra Madre.

Four crew on board the Unaizah May 4 were injured when two China coast guard ships simultaneously fired water cannon at it, shattering the windshield.

It said another vessel also caused a "minor collision" with the Unaizah May 4, which turned back to shore without delivering its cargo. The Unaizah May 1 was able to unload its provisions for troops on the rusty BRP Sierra Madre

Leaders agreed at a September ASEAN summit in Indonesia to accelerate the negotiation process with a goal of finalizing a code within three years.