China’s Xi urges improved Asean ties

JAKARTA: China’s President Xi Jinping said on Thursday territorial disputes with Southeast Asia should be resolved in a “peaceful manner” as he sought to mend frayed ties during the first speech by a foreign leader to the Indonesian parliament.

Making his first visit to the region since taking power in March, Xi turned to the issue of maritime territorial disputes—China’s increasingly assertive claims to almost the entire South China Sea have sparked territorial rows in recent times, in particular with the Philippines and Vietnam.