MANILA (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday urged claimants to the South China Sea not to resort to intimidation to push their cause in the potentially oil-rich waters, an indirect reference to China ahead of a regional leaders’ summit.

Clinton reiterated that the United States wanted a candid discussion of the maritime dispute, which an Australian think tank warned earlier this year could lead to war, when the leaders gather in Bali, Indonesia, this week.

MANILA (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday urged claimants to the South China Sea not to resort to intimidation to push their cause in the potentially oil-rich waters, an indirect reference to China ahead of a regional leaders’ summit.

Clinton reiterated that the United States wanted a candid discussion of the maritime dispute, which an Australian think tank warned earlier this year could lead to war, when the leaders gather in Bali, Indonesia, this week.

MANILA (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday urged claimants to the South China Sea not to resort to intimidation to push their cause in the potentially oil-rich waters, an indirect reference to China ahead of a regional leaders’ summit.

She said disputes in the sea lanes, a possible flashpoint in Asia, should be resolved through the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which defined rules on how countries can use the world’s oceans and their resources.

MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines criticized fellow Southeast Asian nations Tuesday for failing to take a united stand against China over maritime rights in the South China Sea, a crucial commercial shipping lane thought to contain valuable oil and minerals.

The comments by Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario coincide with the arrival of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Manila for a two-day visit in which the Philippines is likely to press Washington to help resolve disputes in the sea lanes claimed by China.

HONOLULU (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s campaign to reassert the United States as a Pacific power, only days old, has triggered a sharp reaction from China, presaging tough times ahead as the two economic giants vie for influence.

Obama, beginning a nine-day Pacific trip, wielded rhetoric and promoted policies that seemed destined to generate friction and promoted policies that seemed destined to generate friction with Beijing and test the limits of the two countries’ on-again, off-again cooperation.

HONOLULU (Reuters) – Catastrophic floods may cut Thailand’s 2011 growth prospects by more than half and require a cut in interest rates to help restore growth, the country’s deputy prime minister said on Saturday.

Kittirat Na Ranong, who is also commerce minister, said Bangkok has yet to make a full tally of the damage from Thailand’s worst floods in half a century.

HONOLULU (Reuters) – Myanmar appears to be making some “real changes” to its political system but the United States wants to see more reform before embracing the country formerly known as Burma, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday.

“It appears that there are real changes taking place on the ground and we support these early efforts at reform,” Clinton told a news conference at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Hawaii.

HONOLULU, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Asia Pacific countries pressed
Europe on Thursday to act more forcefully to quell its debt
crisis, setting the tone for a summit overshadowed by growing
alarm over the fallout from euro-zone upheaval.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other APEC
finance ministers agreed to shore up their own economies
against Europe’s troubles, warning in a statement of
“heightened downside risks to the global economy.”

HONOLULU (Reuters) – With the United States facing a multipronged challenge from China, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared on Thursday that the 21st century will be “America’s Pacific century” and said the region’s problems require U.S. leadership.

While stressing that the Obama administration will seek improved ties with China, Clinton used a speech ahead of an Asia-Pacific summit here to dissuade Beijing and others from thinking the United States is ceding its traditional role in the Pacific.

HONOLULU (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed Europe on Thursday to act more forcefully to quell its debt crisis, setting the stage for an Asia-Pacific summit overshadowed by euro-zone upheaval.

Speaking ahead of a weekend gathering of Pacific rim leaders, Geithner said he and other APEC finance ministers agreed to bolster their own economies to protect against fallout from Europe’s troubles and also to work to rebalance growth.