By Manuel Mogato (Reuters) Southeast Asian nations as well as China will certainly develop hotlines as well as take on interactions procedures to stay clear of possible marine clashes in the contested waters of the South China Sea, a Philippines international ministry authorities stated on Friday.

The procedures will certainly be checked in Laos following week, when heads of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) consult with leaders from various other local powers– China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Russia as well as the United States– for a 3 day top.

The system, called the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), would certainly be brand-new for both ASEAN as well as China, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Helen de la Vega informed a press conference.

“It’s one way of de-escalating tensions in the South China Sea,” she stated, including that hotlines in between China as well as the ASEAN federal governments would certainly be developed.

China declares practically the whole South China Sea where around $5 trillion sea-borne profession passes yearly. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan as well as Vietnam likewise have insurance claims on components of the sea, which is thought to have abundant down payments of oil as well as gas.

“This is very important because any accident that can lead to a major confrontation will be avoided if our navies and coast guards are communicating with each other,” an elderly Philippines navy leader informed Reuters.

He stated there had actually been circumstances in the past when Chinese vessels had actually not replied to radio as well as signal interactions when they had actually been come across by a Philippine Navy ship.

Regardless of this arrangement, the United States, Japan as well as Australia are anticipated to contact China to regard as well as abide by the judgment of the settlement court in The Hague in July.

The court exasperated Beijing by ruling that China had no historic title over the South China Sea as well as it had actually breached the Philippines’ sovereign civil liberties.

The Philippines brand-new President Rodrigo Duterte stated he will certainly elevating the arbitral judgment however will certainly promote various other concerns, like clearing Southeast Asia of narcotics, securing down on human trafficking as well as defense for migrant employees.

Duterte is holding 9 reciprocal talks, consisting of with united state President Barack Obama, Russian leader Vladimir Putin as well as Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, however since yet no conferences had actually been arranged with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang or U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon.

China’s international ministry stated on Friday China was open to a conference with Duterte throughout the top in Laos, as well as would certainly likewise invite him to check out China at a very early day.

(Reporting By Manuel Mogato; Additional coverage by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing By Simon Cameron-Moore) © 2016Thomson Reuters All civil liberties booked.