Anwar said the South China Sea issue remains one of the bloc’s biggest challenges. “Nonetheless, we maintain that negotiations should remain between Asean and China, without the involvement of other external powers,” he said after attending the Asean summit here.

He also said the bloc had agreed to maintain its position that talks on the code of conduct between Asean and China should be expedited, given that the targeted deadline is this year. “So far, the foreign ministry has stressed that there has been progress in that direction,” he said.

Negotiations on the code have been held over 17 years but progress has been slow due to a slew of contentious issues.

In January, foreign minister Mohamad Hasan said significant progress had been made, with nearly 70% of the content agreed upon; however, talks were still needed to ensure national sovereignty was not compromised.

Mohamad said overlapping claims needed resolution through bilateral or multilateral negotiations, while the code serves to establish principles of behaviour and confidence-building measures to prevent tensions in the area.

The South China Sea is the subject of overlapping border disputes, with seven members of Asean – Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines – to the south and southwest, and South China and Taiwan in the north.

China has declared sovereignty over a vast expanse of the sea, through declaration of its so-called “nine-dash-line” which overlaps the exclusive economic zones of Asean members under the UN law of the sea.

China’s increasing assertiveness over the sea has led to clashes with the fishermen in the Philippines, Sabah and Sarawak.

With nearly one-third of global shipping by volume passing through the South China Sea, the region has been the subject of contention between China and the United States and its allies, who have asserted the international right of innocent passage and conducted so-called freedom of navigation exercises.