Defense partnership between the United States, Australia and Great Britain Aukus can be a hindrance when developing a code of behavior in the South China Sea. The director of the Asian and Pacific Cooperation Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexey Ovchinnikov, announced the possible undermining of the negotiation process in the Asia-Pacific region (ATP), reports RIA Novosti.
According to the diplomat, Washington and allies on the Indo-Pacific direction can provoke a response and make the negotiation process is impossible. “I will not be surprised if after some time the other parties who do not participate in the development of some rules for a whole region or the subregion will launch their draft rules for the South China Sea on another basis, but already with their own vision,” the Ovchinnikov noted .
For the first time, the idea of developing a code of behavior in the South China Sea arose in the 1990s after capturing China’s Reef Mischaff. However, disagreements both between the PRC and the countries of Southeast Asia and within the association of the States of Southeast Asia (ASEAN) did not allow the parties for a quarter of a century to advance in this matter. According to TASS, in June 2020, ASEAN postponed the negotiations on the Code with China due to the complex epidemiological situation.
Washington, London and Canberra concluded an agreement on defense partnership on the background of competition with China in the South China Sea. Beijing declares that a significant part of international waters in the Asia-Pacific region belongs to the PRC. We are talking about controversial seaspaces in the areas of Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and others.
August 30, China’s Marine Security Office stated that all foreign vessels are obliged to report the location at the entrance to the “Chinese” territorial water. Now foreign ships are obliged to report to the Chinese administration their callsign, as well as transfer information about transported loads.