The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United States declared that the code of conduct being hammered out by China and the regional bloc in the disputed South China Sea should comply with international law, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Both sides also stressed the importance of "the full and effective implementation" of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in its entirety.
However, its non-binding nature and lack of provision to sanction misbehaving claimants renders the accord useless against aggression. that was released after the meeting in Washington between ASEAN leaders and US President Joe Biden on May 13.and was represented by Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., while Myanmar, now ruled again by a military junta, was not invited by Biden to the summit.
"We emphasized the need to maintain and promote an environment conducive to the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea negotiations. We welcome further progress towards the early conclusion of an effective and substantive COC consistent with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS," the ASEAN-US statement said.