Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, today met with H.E. Hou Yanqi, the newly-appointed Senior Officials’ Meeting on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (SOM-DOC) Leader of China. The meeting was held in Cebu, Philippines, at the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat 2026 and ahead of the 25th SOM-DOC Meeting. They exchanged views on the progress of the implementation of the DOC, as well as on maintaining the momentum toward an early conclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC), that is in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).