Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said Chinese Premier Li Qiang has agreed to accelerate talks on the South China Sea Code of Conduct (COC) with Asean member states.
Anwar said the Chinese leader’s remarks came after the bloc stressed that all maritime disputes in the South China Sea be resolved based on a mutually-agreed code of conduct during the recent Asean-China Summit.
“All agreed that this region should not be an area of contestation for superpowers,” Anwar told reporters after the closing ceremony of the 47th Asean Summit and Related Summits, here, today.
“Their presence is accepted. We work with some maritime initiatives with the Americans and conduct traditional military exercises with Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore.