The 14th Senior Officials' Meeting and 21st Joint Working Group Meeting on the implementation of the DOC was held from May 17 to 18 in Guiyang, Guizhou province. Senior officals from China and ten ASEAN Member States attended these meetings.

Parties had a candid and thorough discussion on the implementation of the DOC, maritime practical cooperation and COC consultation, and made positive progress. Parties reaffirmed the importance of full and effective implementation of the DOC and expressed their commitment to settling disputes in the South China Sea through negotiation and consultation in a peaceful way, to managing differences through regional rules and mechanisms, promoting maritime practical cooperation and COC consultation, and to maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea. The meeting adopted the COC framework. All parties positively commented on the significance of achieving a COC framework, and stressed that this is a milestone achievement in the entire COC consultation, which will lay a solid foundation for the next stage of consultation. All parties will continue to advance the COC consultation in a constructive manner and try to conclude it on the basis of consensus at an early date.

The meeting adopted the "Non-paper on the steps towards the establishment of the technical committees" and the testing result of MFA to MFA Hotline communication and updated the working plan from 2016 to 2018.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the signing of the DOC. In the past 15 years, China and ASEAN Member States jointly maintained peace, stability and ecnomic growth in the South China Sea region through the DOC mechanism. Looking into the future, all parties should stick to the full and effective implementation of DOC, work together to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, and stay committed to building the South China Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation.