US Encourages ASEAN, China to Develop Rules for South China Sea

WASHINGTON—The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) efforts toward increasing peaceful cooperation with China’s communist regime over the situation in the South China Sea has the support of the Biden administration, a State Department spokesman says.
ASEAN, a political and economic bloc of nations in Southeast Asia, announced at a summit last week that the group was heartened by “ongoing efforts to strengthen cooperation between ASEAN and China” and noted efforts to craft a “code of conduct” for the South China Sea.
China and numerous ASEAN members all lay claim to overlapping portions of the waterway.
The Biden administration supports such initiatives and believes that such frameworks are an invaluable avenue for maintaining peace in the region, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said during a May 11 press briefing….}