June 23, 2019

BANGKOK -- Southeast Asian leaders pressed their call for self-restraint in the disputed South China Sea Sunday after a new incident and renewed their alarm over the U.S.-China trade war, with one warning it may spiral out of control.

The long-raging territorial conflicts and the protracted dispute between the two global economic powerhouses are high on the agenda in the final of two days of meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders. It's an annual summit steeped in diplomacy, protocol and cultural color in the Thai capital of Bangkok.

Facing regional predicaments such as the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar, the leaders took the stage and clasped their hands together in a trademark ASEAN handshake to project unity.

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