No accord in South China Sea row

South-east Asian diplomats have failed to reach common ground on how to resolve a territorial dispute involving China, as a regional conference ended without a joint statement for the first time in the bloc’s history.

The unprecedented failure to come up with the joint communique in 45 years of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) underscores deep divisions within the 10-member bloc amid conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea involving four of its members plus China and Taiwan.