by Le Yanna, Bui Long
HANOI, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- China and ASEAN ministers' adoption of the framework for the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) is an indispensable and positive step, said Vietnamese scholars.
"We welcome the adoption of the COC framework, because it will meet aspiration of people from ASEAN countries and China," Nguyen Thien Chi from Ho Chi Minh City's Vietnam-China Friendship Association told Xinhua on Tuesday.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have come a long way to adopt the COC framework, said Chi.
They will have to do the same to ensure the COC will make contributions to strengthening friendship, mutual understanding and trust between the two sides, and to maintaining peace, security and stability in the South China Sea, he added.
Another Vietnamese scholar also highly appreciated the COC framework.
The adoption has shown that ASEAN and China are "really serious in working to stabilize the situation in the South China Sea," and eventually helping to maintain peace and stability in the sea, Tran Viet Thai, from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, said on Monday.
Last year, ASEAN and China agreed on three issues, namely establishing hotlines between foreign ministries of ASEAN countries and China to deal with problems arising in the South China Sea, applying a code for unplanned encounters at sea (CUES) among their navies, and completing the COC framework in mid-2017.
"Adopting the COC framework is the realization of one of the three pledges made by Chinese senior leaders with ASEAN. Such progress shows that China has seriously fulfilled their pledge," Thai stated.
Major-general Le Van Cuong, former director of the Vietnamese Institute of Strategic and Science Research, shared a similar view.
Regarding the adoption of the COC framework, "China's goodwill at this time should be acknowledged," Cuong stated.
ASEAN and China should strengthen exchanges and expedite pragmatic negotiations regarding the COC, he said.
