WASHINGTON/TOKYO—It remains unlikely that China would ever agree to a code of conduct governing actions in the disputed South China Sea, even as having one would mean stability in the sea region, officials say.

Marvin Ott, a scholar in Southeast Asia Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, said such a code would not be useful to the Chinese government, which has ignored a UN-backed tribunal’s ruling last year that favored the Philippines.

“China will never agree to a real code of conduct,” said Ott, who was a professor of national security policy at the National War College.

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