From Declarations to Negotiations: ASEAN’s Role in Managing the South China Sea Dispute

In 2023 and 2024, tensions in the South China Sea (SCS) escalated among some claimant states, especially between the People’s Republic of China and the Philippines over the Shoals of Scarborough, Second Thomas, and Sabina. Having been a stakeholder in the disputes for decades, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) released the Foreign Ministers’ Statement on Maintaining and Promoting Stability in the Maritime Sphere in Southeast Asia in December 2023, a timely response to the developments. ASEAN’s participation in the South China Sea disputes has been reflected in several ways but mostly through diplomatic documents and communications. The article examines the regional bloc’s participation in the maritime disputes through its statements/declarations on the SCS, and chairman’s statements from ASEAN summits and summits with dialogue partners and the United Nations. ASEAN member states’ efforts in engaging with China in negotiations on concluding a Code of Conduct in the SCS and the challenges faced by ASEAN in dealing the disputes will also be clarified. Although ASEAN's participation in the SCS disputes have been mostly reflected in its Chairman’s Statements, it can be recognized as continuous collective efforts of a regional mechanism in dealing with a common but critical challenge in the Indo-Pacific region.