US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently stated that the United States considers Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea illegal. Pompeo’s statement and the anticipation of escalated South China Sea tensions may nudge ASEAN to seek a quick conclusion of negotiations with Beijing on the proposed Code of Conduct (CoC), wrote RSIS Research Fellow Collin Koh in a commentary. A proactive ASEAN ought to take charge rather than follow the lead of major actors in the South China Sea — whether that is China or the US, he added.

…Collin Koh is a Research Fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.