Manila, Nov. 12 -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Thursday expressed its hope for an "effective and substantive" code of conduct for all activities in the South China Sea.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the 37th Asean Summit as the current chair, Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc reaffirmed the bloc's determination to maintain "peace, stability, and security" in the South China Sea.
"Asean has also expressed consistently its principled position and a strong commitment to turning the South China Sea, a critical sea lane of the region and the world, into a sea of peace, stability, security, and safety for the free flow of goods, where differences and disputes are settled through peaceful means, where the law...