JAKARTA (Oct 3): Chinese President Xi Jinping showed no sign of bending to Southeast Asian pressure to resolve increasingly irascible territorial disputes over the South China Sea on Thursday, simply repeating calls for dialogue.
Xi, in the first address by a foreign leader to Indonesian MPs, made no reference to regional demands, echoed in Washington, that Beijing deal with the rival claims through multilateral talks, rather than with individual negotiations.
The issue is certain to overshadow two regional summits next week, that Xi will attend. But while Xi is touring Southeast Asia, including signing off on multibillion dollar deals with Indonesia, U.S. President Barack Obama has had to cancel trips to the Philippines and Malaysia, because of the U.S. government shutdown.
Read more at: http://www.theedgemarkets.com/…/chinas-xi-sidesteps-se-asia-pressure-over-south-china-sea…