India in favour to make South China Sea 'area of cooperation': Mathai

As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, Union Foreign Secretary, Ranjan Mathai today said that India is in favour to make South China Sea an 'area of cooperation'. While the code of conduct for the South China Sea did not figure in the bilateral talks, Mathai, after the meeting, said that India favours such a code in the sea, to "make it an area of cooperation". Countries of the Asia and Pacific are demanding such a code in the South China Sea, a major trading waterway where China has been trying to establish control.