🌟 [ 32 ]   Singapores Lee says negotiations underway on code of conduct on the South China Sea [ @AP Archive ]

(5 Mar 2024) RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Melbourne - 5 March 2024 1. Wide of Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arriving for news conference 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore Prime Minister: On the code of conduct, that s the common position of the ASEAN members that we should negotiate a code of conduct, on the South China Sea with China. Negotiations have been underway. They are taking some time. They have reached a point, I think, of a first complete read-through of the code of conduct, but to negotiate and to settle the code, I believe, would take some time. The issues are not easy to resolve and, really, a negotiating of a code of conduct inevitably raises issues of what the ultimate outcomes are going to be. And therefore, because the ultimate answers are difficult, so too negotiating the code will take quite some time. 3. Wide of Lee and Albanese at news conference 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Albanese, Australia Prime Minister: Australia is a strong supporter of the UN Convention of the law of the sea. And we have strongly put our view that freedom of navigation through the South China Sea is important. A large percentage of Australian trade goes through that sea, whether it be on its way to China or to Japan or the Republic of Korea in particular. So, it is an important waterway and we support freedom of navigation and we also support the application of international law. Our position on China remains very consistent, which is that we want to cooperate where we can, we will disagree where we must, but we will always engage in our national interests. I think the recent progress has been made in the relationship. That is a good thing. It is always good when dialogue occurs, and that is our position that will continue to assert. 5. Wide of Lee and Albanese at news conference 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Albanese, Australia Prime Minister: U.S. elections .

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🌈 🔎 SingaporesLeesaysnegotiationsunderwayoncodeofconductontheSouthChinaSea 🌈