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 on Saturday 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, 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 Sunday.