SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Southeast Asian nations are set to announce agreement with China on a working text for negotiations over a code of conduct to ease tension in the disputed South China sea at a meeting that began on Thursday. Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and ASEAN foreign ministers pose for a group photo during the opening ceremony of the 51st ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore August 2, 2018. REUTERS/Edgar Su A draft communique seen by Reuters shows the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also aims to soon reach a cybersecurity deal with Russia, which the United States has accused of election meddling, following hacks in the region. The communique, which reiterated ASEAN’s commitment to an ambitious trade pact backed by China, is set to be issued by ASEAN foreign ministers on Saturday at the close of the meeting of top diplomats in Singapore. “We noted with satisfaction the ASEAN member states and China had agreed on a single draft COC (Code of Conduct) negotiating text,” read the draft communique, adding that it was reached in June during high-level talks in China. ASEAN also urged steps for “the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula, saying it welcomed a pact between the United States and North Korea at June’s landmark summit in Singapore. Speaking on the event sidelines, the Chinese government’s top diplomat on Thursday called for a push to establish a peace mechanism for the Korean peninsula as well as denuclearization. China, along with… [Read full story]
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