China and a grouping of Southeast Asian nations aim to finish by the middle of next year a framework for a Code of Conduct to ease tension in the disputed South China Sea, Chinese state media said on Wednesday. Since 2010, China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been discussing a set of rules aimed at avoiding conflict among rival claimants in the busy waterway. Last month, an arbitration court in the Hague ruled that China had no historic title over the South China Sea and had breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights there. The decision infuriated Beijing, which dismissed the court’s authority. But Beijing has been keen to get diplomacy back on track since. Meeting in northeastern China, the two sides agreed to get the framework for the Code of Conduct done by mid-2017, and also approved guidelines for a China-ASEAN hotline for [...]
