Southeast Asia issues a non-rebuke to ChinaBy Vijay Joshi and Jim Gomez, Associated PressVIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — A summit of Southeast Asian countries issued a mild rebuke of China on Wednesday over its expansionist activities in the disputed South China Sea, and indirectly urged it to show restraint and not raise tensions. A statement issued at the end of the ASEAN summit said in regard to the South China Sea, “We remain seriously concerned over recent and ongoing developments,” without elaborating. The issue of ownership of territories in the South China Sea has come to dominate ASEAN summit meetings in recent years. On Wednesday, the Philippine government released what it says are surveillance pictures of Chinese coast guard ships and barges at disputed Scarborough shoal in the South China Sea. The U.S. military has also expressed concern over the possibility that China might turn Scarborough into another island, something that would give Beijing’s forces greater control over a swath of the South China Sea used as a passageway to the Taiwan Strait.

Source: Manila Bulletin September 07, 2016 16:07 UTC