After negotiations that lasted more than three years, the Chinese also agreed with the ASEAN countries the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, by which the resident states undertook to resolve territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means and to refrain from inhabiting presently uninhabited islands. Although the Declaration is non – binding, China’s standing would be damaged if it were to be seen to be contravening it. The two sides also agreed to develop more CBMs, and to explore further possibilities for cooperative activities, bilaterally or multilaterally. China, which was already a signatory to the Southeast Asia Nuclear Free Zone, took an additional step in demonstrating its commitment to meeting the interests of its ASEAN partners by being the first outsider formally to adhere to ASEAN’s 1976 Treaty of Amity and Concord that set out a code of conduct for the region based on the sanctity of national sovereignty. Since the Chinese had formally acceded to all the norms of regional inter – state conduct that the Southeast Asians claimed determined their relations, the Chinese in turn could now claim that they had been fully accepted as partners. Clearly, they had less to fear of ASEAN countries adopting measures with others that would be detrimental to Chinese interests. China had gained by cooperation far more than it could have expected to from its previous policy of open hostility to the US. It was far less likely, for example, that ASEAN states would provide assistance to the US in the event of Sino – American conflict over Taiwan.