Japan and the United States urged China on Thursday to resolve disputes in the South China Sea with the Philippines and other smaller neighbors in line with an arbitration ruling in July that invalidated Beijing's claims to almost the whole of the sea.

During the East Asia Summit in Vientiane, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama urged China to comply with the ruling, which they said is "binding" on Beijing and Manila, the latter of which brought the arbitration case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, according to diplomatic sources.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, whose government has dismissed the July 12 ruling, also participated in the 18-nation meeting.