Small, but nonetheless significant progress

After all the recent hoopla over the disputes in the South China Sea, an obvious priority for the region has been de-escalating tensions and finding ways to prevent or manage potential crises.

So with both Beijing and Manila having taken a step back from the tense standoff that had developed between them and making efforts to try and thaw their frozen ties, it is encouraging that other countries with disputes in the waters seem to be willing to do likewise.

The agreement between China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Tuesday on the guidelines for setting up a hotline platform and their pledge to abide by the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea may appear to be a matter of course, but they had been on the agenda at high-level meetings between them for a while without any progress being made.