Cambodia hosts gala dinner for ASEAN leaders

  • 12 years ago
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STORY: Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) leaders and regional partners put on colorful silk clothes and attended a gala dinner at Cambodia's Diamond Island Convention Center on Monday.

The extravagant gala brings to an end a tense day of talks on the South China Sea issue, which threatened to expose rifts between ASEAN members and also China over how the issue should be dealt with.

ASEAN showed rare unity on Sunday saying that they had agreed not to "internationalize" their disputes over rival claims to the potentially oil-and-gas rich sea.

China has always maintained that issues should be dealt with bilaterally and not through regional groups like ASEAN. It has also insisted that countries like the Philippines should not seek outside support from the United States.

The Philippines publicly disputed ASEAN host Cambodia's statement that the leaders had reached a consensus not to "internationalize" the South China Sea dispute.

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