Asean summit in Myanmar likely to be dominated by tensions with China
Historic first meeting in Myanmar overshadowed by members' territorial disputesin South China Sea, with two flare-ups in the last few days
Southeast Asian leaders head into a landmark summit in Myanmar this weekend dogged by a flare-up of high seas tensions with China that will test their ability to stand together against a mighty economic partner.
Vietnam and the Philippines, both members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, squared up to Beijing this week in the South China Sea.
"China's actions on the eve of the Asean meeting in Myanmar will put South China Sea issues on the top of the agenda," said Carl Thayer, an expert on the region's issues at the University of New South Wales.
He said Beijing was being "aggressively assertive" by relocating a deep-water drilling rig in waters claimed by Vietnam and surrounding it with ships, adding that it could be a riposte to Barack Obama's recent Asia tour.
Hanoi said on Wednesday that the Chinese ships used water cannon to attack Vietnamese patrol vessels and repeatedly rammed them, injuring six people. During his tour, Obama asserted support for US allies Japan and the Philippines, both locked in their own territorial disputes with Beijing.
Philippine police said on Wednesday they had seized a Chinese fishing vessel and detained its 11 crew elsewhere in the South China Sea, alleging they had caught hundreds of protected marine turtles.
China said it was in the right in both the Philippine and Vietnam cases. The sea is crisscrossed by fishing and shipping lanes and is thought to contain huge oil and gas reserves. Parts are claimed by Asean members Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as by Taiwan.