Asia Leaders Tiptoe Around South China Sea Tensions

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9 September 2016 08:52 WIB

( L to R) Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chano-cha, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesia's President Joko Widodo and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak pose for photo during ASEAN-China Summit in Vientiane, Laos September 7, 2016. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

9 September 2016 00:00 WIB

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, left, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte link hands with other leaders during the ASEAN Plus Three summit in the ongoing 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and other related summits at the National Convention Center Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016 in Vientiane, Laos. Asia leaders tiptoe around South China Sea tensionsAsian leaders played down tensions over the South China Sea in a carefully worded summit statement on Thursday, but even before it was issued Beijing voiced frustration with countries outside the region "interfering" in tussles over the strategic waterway. AP/Bullit Marquez

9 September 2016 00:00 WIB

(L to R) Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, and Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah cut a cake during the ASEAN-China Summit in Vientiane, Laos September 7, 2016. The heads of 10 Southeast Asian nations, as well as U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang among six other leaders, "reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation in and over-flight in the South China Sea." REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

9 September 2016 00:00 WIB

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, left, shakes hands with Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte, second right, as Laos' Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, second left, and Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen watch during 19th ASEAN-China summit, a parallel summit in the ongoing 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and other related summits at National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016. AP/Gemunu Amarasinghe

9 September 2016 00:00 WIB

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang adjusts his eyer sets during 19th ASEAN-China summit, a parallel summit in the ongoing 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and other related summits at National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016. But the draft of a statement to be issued in Vientiane, Laos, tiptoed around the regional strains caused by competing claims to areas of the strategically important sea. AP/Gemunu Amarasinghe

9 September 2016 00:00 WIB

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, center, adjusts his attire as leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) applaud during the 19th ASEAN-China summit, a parallel summit in the ongoing 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and other related summits at National Convention Center in Vientiane, Laos, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016. ASEAN leaders from left, Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Laos' Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte. AP/Gemunu Amarasinghe

9 September 2016 00:00 WIB