China pledged to make joint efforts with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to maintain peace and stability in the region, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said on July 20.

The Chinese side is willing to work together with ASEAN members to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) comprehensively and effectively, Hong Lei said.

China is open to consultations with ASEAN on the conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), he added.

On the same day, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman and his Philippine counterpart Albert Del Rosario raised their support for ASEAN’s six-point principles on the East Sea during their talks in the Philippine capital city of Manila .

The two FMs also discussed ASEAN’s orientation after the 45 th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting concluded in Phnom Penh . They agreed that the group needs to work closer to reach its target of forming an ASEAN Community by 2015 while maintaining unity, unanimity as well as its active and constructive role in the world arena.

Earlier, at a press briefing in Phnom Penh on July 20, Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong announced ASEAN’s six-point principles on the East Sea, in which the group’s member countries reaffirmed their commitments to the full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea, the early conclusion of a regional Code of Conduct in the East Sea, the full respect of the universally recognised principles of International Law and the peaceful resolution of disputes, in accordance with universally recognised principles of International Law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).-VNA