U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Southeast Asian leaders Friday that the U.S. is concerned about China’s “increasingly dangerous and unlawful” activities in the disputed South China Sea during an annual summit meeting,

Chinese Premier Li Qiang has called for deeper market integration with Southeast Asia during annual summit talks where territorial disputes in the South China Sea are likely to be high on the agenda

China and U.S. ally the Philippines have been at loggerheads over a succession of confrontations near disputed features in the South China Sea, with Manila accusing China's coast guard of aggression and Beijing furious over what it calls repeated provocations and territorial incursions.