ASEAN vows to conclude pact with China on disputed territory

By NINIEK KARMINI
Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers have vowed to finalize negotiations with China aimed at preventing conflicts in the disputed South China Sea. In the final session of their two-day annual retreat in Indonesia’s capital on Saturday, the ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also agreed to unite in their approach to implement a five-step agreement made in 2021 between ASEAN leaders and Myanmar’s military leader that seeks to end that country’s worsening crisis. China and the ASEAN member states, which include four rival claimants to territories in the South China Sea, have been holding sporadic talks for years on a “code of conduct,” a set of regional norms and rules aimed at preventing a clash the disputed waters.