ASEAN Naval Heads Meet re: South China Sea Issues

[Amgine]

Naval leaders of the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations met in Hanoi to discuss closer working relationships amid rising tensions regarding competing claims to the potentially oil-rich Spratly and Paracel island groups. In May Vietnam claimed Chinese surveillance vessels cut exploration cables of an oil survey ship within Vietnam's exclusive economic zone. In March the Philipines complained of harrassment of their exploration vessel, that Chinese had shot at a fisherman, and placed markers on some of the disputed islets.

The waters include vital shipping lanes with competing claims from more than half-a-dozen countries in the region.

AFP: SE Asian navies seek closer ties amid sea spat