Vietnam urged other Southeast Asian nations to take a stronger stand against Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea. As a tense regional security forum began today with North Korea also under fire over its nuclear programme.
Ahead of the launch of the annual gathering of Foreign Ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Vietnam made a bold play against China with a raft of suggested changes to a planned joint communique.
It set the stage for a fiery few days of diplomacy in the Philippine capital, Manila with the top diplomats from China, the US, Russia and North Korea to join their ASEAN and other Asia- Pacific counterparts for security talks from tomorrow.