PHNOM PENH - China and Cambodia on Thursday jointly called on related parties to adopt at an early date the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea to make it a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation.

The two sides issued the call in a joint communique released after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang concluded an official visit to Cambodia.

Both countries are delighted to see that the situation in the South China Sea remains steady and continues to improve, said the communique.

It urged related parties to comprehensively and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct (DOC) of Parties in the South China Sea, deepen pragmatic maritime cooperation, promote consultations on the texts of the COC in the South China Sea in an effort to adopt the document at an early date based on negotiated consensus.

The DOC, signed here in 2002 by China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states, stipulates that the parties concerned shall resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned.