MANILA — The Philippines is hoping a code of conduct for the South China Sea can be completed when it is chair of the Asean bloc next year, with a consensus emerging between Southeast Asia and China, its foreign secretary said on Monday (Nov 17).

Theresa Lazaro said the code being negotiated between China and the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations should be legally binding.

Asean and China pledged in 2002 to create a code of conduct, but it took 15 years to start discussions, and progress until now has been slow.

"I think there is already a sense among Asean and China that a code of conduct will be concluded," Lazaro told a press conference.

"It is indeed our intention and I think it is also the aspiration of all of Asean and even China to finish and to come up with the code."

Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, which it asserts through a fleet of coast guard and fishing militia that some neighbours accuse of aggression and of disrupting fishing and energy activities in their exclusive economic zones.

Tensions between China and US ally the Philippines have soared in recent years, with both sides accusing the other of territorial infringements. The United States has repeatedly accused China of "destabilising actions".