Asia Pacific Leaders Meet as China Complains about US, Japan Remarks on Disputed Islands
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gestures during a news conference with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem at the ASEAN summit in Hanoi, 30 Oct 2010
Heads of state from sixteen Asia and Pacific countries are meeting in Vietnam for the East Asia Summit. The meetings began amid tensions between China and the U.S. and Japan.
Leaders of Asia and Pacific nations are meeting Saturday for the East Asia Summit, which groups the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined the meeting as observers and were invited to join as members in 2011.
Clinton said the United States wanted to help strengthen and build the East Asia Summit as a key forum for political and strategic issues in the Asia Pacific.
"We believe that the EAS should pursue and active agenda that involves the most consequential issues of our time, including nuclear proliferation, the increase in conventional arms, maritime security, climate change, and the promotion of shared values and civil society," she said.
The regional meeting began as tensions were high between China and Japan and the United States.
China late Friday accused Japan of ruining the atmosphere for a meeting between the Chinese Premier and the Japanese Prime Minister.
Beijing also voiced dissatisfaction over remarks Clinton made that island territories disputed with Japan fall within the scope of the US-Japan security alliance.
The ASEAN＇s members are Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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