South China Sea row: Asean seeks islands deal

[alp227]

Source: BBC News

Asian officials have sought to play down an increasingly tense territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

Leaders of regional bloc Asean signed a deal with Chinese officials aimed at establishing guidelines for talks on the dispute.

But the agreement was short on detail, and did not mention the overlapping territorial claims.

The Philippines and Vietnam, both Asean members, have become embroiled in bad tempered exchanges with China recently.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14241674

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[FreakinDJ]

1. Think "Oil and Natural Gas" land grab

[LetTimmySmoke]

2. That's what I was thinking.

There's no way they would be bickering over these islands unless there were valuable resources there.

[FreakinDJ]

3. Yep - Philippines was talking about tapping them in 2005

and that is when the dispute erupted.