ASEAN-MALAYSIA/CHINA-NEW ZEALAND Chinese and Malaysian foreign ministers meet ASEAN delegates

Record ID: 144947

  • Title: ASEAN-MALAYSIA/CHINA-NEW ZEALAND Chinese and Malaysian foreign ministers meet ASEAN delegates
  • Date: 5th August 2015
  • Summary: KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (AUGUST 5, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** NEW ZEALAND FLAG IN FRONT OF PROJECTION ON WALL READING (English): "ASEAN - NEW ZEALAND MINISTERIAL MEETING" VARIOUS OF NEW ZEALAND FOREIGN MINISTER, MURRAY MCCULLY (SECOND FROM LEFT), AND LAOS DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND FOREIGN MINISTER, THONGLOUN SISOULITH (SECOND FROM RIGHT), LINKI
  • Embargoed: 20th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Malaysia
  • Country: Malaysia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA111U6EHXIKOY6QHHMQ3I85358
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully met Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers on Wednesday (August 5) during two ministerial meetings in Kuala Lumpur.
    Wang and McCully are both in Malaysia, which is hosting this year's annual ASEAN meeting, for talks with the 10-member ASEAN, where tensions in the South China Sea have taken centre stage.
    The two leaders took to the stage with ASEAN delegates for a photo opportunity at the start of their respective meetings, before sitting down for talks.
    During the ASEAN-China meeting, Wang announced that China had stopped construction in the South China Sea.
    Recent satellite images show China has almost finished building a 3,000-metre-long (10,000-foot) airstrip on one of its seven new islands in the Spratlys.
    The airstrip will be long enough to accommodate most Chinese military aircraft, security experts have said, giving Beijing greater reach into the heart of maritime Southeast Asia.
    China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.
    Earlier on Wednesday, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to speed up consultations on a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea, the foreign ministers of China and ASEAN member Thailand said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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