China's Xi Jinping to attend Asia-Pacific Summit amid sea disputes

Beijing, China: Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group next week, the Foreign Ministry said today, amid tensions between China and the Philippines over the disputed South China Sea.

The APEC meeting will take place in Manila from November 17 to 19. APEC's members include the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Canada, and together account for 57 percent of global production and 46.5 percent of world trade.

China has overlapping claims with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.

A summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last week, attended by both the United States and China, failed to produce a final statement because the delegations could not agree on whether to mention the South China Sea dispute.

China has been particularly angered by a case lodged by the Philippines with an arbitration court in the Netherlands over the South China Sea. China says it will neither recognise nor participate in the case.