The sea, where $3 trillion worth of trade passes annually, was been a major point of contention at the ASEAN meetings, particularly with Russia and China objecting to a reference to the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, a U.S. official said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Southeast Asian leaders Friday that the U.S. is concerned about China's “increasingly dangerous and unlawful” activities in the disputed South China Sea during an annual summit meeting,

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr pressed Southeast Asian leaders and China at a regional summit on Thursday to urgently speed up negotiations on a code of conduct for the South China Sea, while accusing Beijing of harassment and intimidation.