Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have agreed on a working text to continue long, drawn-out negotiations over a code of conduct in the disputed South China sea, with officials from both sides on Thursday lauding it as a “milestone”, Reuters reports. Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said the agreement on a single text does not mean that negotiations are over, or that all the competing claims over territory in the South China Sea are resolved as it “was never meant to resolve territorial disputes”. According to a draft document seen by the Agence France-Presse, China wants military exercises and energy exploration with Southeast Asian nations in disputed waters, but insists on outside countries being excluded in what analysts said was a bid to diminish US influence.