SUSTAINABLE PEACE OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA: THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF SIGNING THE DECLARATION ON THE CONDUCT OF PARTIES IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

The year 2022 marked the 20th Anniversary of Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). China and the ASEAN Member States issued a Joint Statement on this occasion. As another milestone consensus between ASEAN and China on the South China Sea, the Joint Statement recognises the benefits of having the South China Sea as a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation, appreciates the progress in the negotiations of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC), and reaffirms that the future adoption of the COC would further promote peace and stability in the region. In a collaboration between the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation & Peace (CICP) and China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), this book discusses respective and joint DOC- and COC-related experiences and practices for a sustainable peace of the South China Sea, from the perspective of both Chinese as well as ASEAN scholars.

Prof. Guo Yanjun is the Director of the Institute of Asian Studies at China Foreign Affairs University. He completed his PhD in International Politics at Shandong University in 2007. He worked at Peking University as a post-doctorate research fellow from 2009–2011. He specializes in the study of international rivers and transboundary water resources management, especially the Lancang-Mekong river water management. He has published relevant writings and articles both at home and abroad on transboundary water resources management. He also serves as a research fellow at the Innovation Center on National Territorial Sovereignty and Maritime Rights. As a member of the NEAT China (Network of East Asian Think-tanks), NACT China (Network of ASEAN-China Think-tanks) and NTCT China (Network of Trilateral Cooperation Think-tanks), he has been involved in many track II diplomacy processes in the past years.

HE Ambassador POU Sothirak is the emeritus Executive Director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, a leading policy-oriented non-governmental think-tank in Cambodia. He currently serve voluntarily as the Distinguished Senior Advisor of the Cambodian Center for Regional Studies. Previously Secretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, he remains an advisor to the Royal government of Cambodia as of 2014. He has extensive experience in international relations through his time as a visiting senior research fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asia Studies (ISEAS, from 2009 to 2012) and as Cambodian Ambassador to Japan (from 2005 to 2008). He has been involved in many ASEAN-centered track II diplomacy processes in the past years as a leading member of the NACT Cambodia (Network of ASEAN-China Think-tanks).