Southeast Asian leaders took a softer stance on disputes in the South China Sea during a summit that ended Saturday, avoiding tacit references to China's building and arming of its man-made islands, according to the chairman's statement.
A final statement of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which was not made available until Sunday, dropped the references to "land reclamation and militarization" included in the text issued at last year's meeting in Laos and an earlier, unpublished version seen Saturday.
The outcome follows what two ASEAN diplomats said were efforts by Chinese Foreign Ministry and embassy officials in Manila to pressure ASEAN chair the Philippines to keep Beijing's contentious activities in the strategic waterway off ASEAN's official agenda.