Brunei

Negotiations on the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership were to go into overtime on Oct.2 as top trade officials from 12 countries strained to craft a deal that would create the world's largest free trade zone.

Beijing may be building its third airstrip on artificial islands in the South China Sea, a US think-tank said, in a move likely to raise tensions with Washington ahead of a state visit by China's president.
 

Singapore will mark 50 years since independence on August 9 with nationwide celebrations including a huge military parade and firework display that will also pay tribute to former founding leader Lee Kuan Yew.

US Secretary of State John Kerry voiced concern to China on August 5 over its land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea and militarisation of the waters, a US official said.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin said on August 3 the disputed South China Sea should not be discussed at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Philippines argued at a closed hearing on July 7 that an international court should intervene in its dispute with China over the right to exploit natural resources and fish in the South China Sea. 

On tiny specks in the disputed Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea, Vietnamese and Filipino children skip to school each day. Not far away, China is building lighthouses and weather stations on reclaimed land. Further north, a Chinese cruise ship takes "patriotic" tourists to a separate group of contested islands. 

China hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the building of two lighthouses in the disputed South China Sea, state media said on May 26, a move that is likely to escalate tensions in a region already jittery about Beijing's maritime ambitions. 

A senior Turkish diplomat has been appointed as chair of a key intergovernmental body aimed at resolving a centuries-old conflict in the Philippines, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has announced.