By Shannon Tiezzi

November 18, 2015

"It's a week for summit diplomacy in Asia, with leaders' meetings both in the Philippines, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit from November 18-19 and then in Malaysia for the ASEAN and East Asia Summits. The result of these gatherings of top regional leaders means a time for diplomatic focus on areas of concern – and in the Asian context, that means a heavy emphasis on the South China Sea disputes.

China has already made its position clear that APEC, at least, is not a proper place for discussing the South China Sea disputes. During a trip to Manila, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi carried the message that China did not want the maritime disputes, involving overlapping claims from Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam, on the agenda. Philippine officials have said they would not raise the issue themselves, but would not prevent others from doing so."

Read more:
http://thediplomat.com/2015/11/us-japan-put-south-china-sea-at-the-forefront-of-asia-summits/

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