REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SEOUL - US Secretary of State John Kerry will raise the code of conduct issue again in Indonesia when he meets with the ASEAN secretary general at the bloc's headquarters in Jakarta, as part of seven day tour to Asia including South korea, China, Indonesia, and United Arab Emirates.

 Among others, Kerry is scheduled to meet his counterpart, Indonesian Minister fo Foreign Affairs Marty Natalegawa on Monday morning. They will hold a joint press conference after the meeting.

Also, in Indonesia, Kerry planned to deliver a speech highlighting the importance of dealing with climate change, the officials said.

Earlier, Kerry arrived in Asia on Thursday on a mission aimed largely at easing tensions between China and its smaller neighbors over territorial disputes and exploring ways to restart long-stalled talks on ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons. On his fifth trip to Asia as America's top diplomat, Kerry will be making the case for reducing regional acrimony over competing claims in the East and South China seas.

After South Korea, he will fly to China. After Beijing, Kerry will raise the code of conduct issue again in Indonesia when he meets with the ASEAN secretary general at the bloc's headquarters in Jakarta. The US has been urging China and the Association of South East Asian Nations to agree to a binding code of conduct for behavior in the South China Sea for years.

China has been reluctant to negotiate with ASEAN as a whole, preferring to deal with nations bilaterally and has fiercely rejected US allegations that it is using vague territorial claims to gradually assert control over the disputed areas.

On Saturday, China's foreign ministry said in a statement that some US officials' remarks were not constructive and opined that "playing up tensions" was not conducive to maintaining peace and stability. After the Indonesia stop, Kerry will fly on to the United Arab Emirates before returning home.

Although some have criticized the administration for ignoring it's touted "pivot to Asia," officials pointed to the White House's announcement that Obama would soon visit Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines as Kerry visited the continent. 

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