The Straits Times
Date: April 10, 2016

HIROSHIMA (BLOOMBERG) – The United States is keen to raise the issue

Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida at the opening ceremony for the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Hiroshima on April 10, 2016. PHOTO: AFP

of China’s territorial ambitions in the South China Sea at a Group of Seven (G-7) foreign ministers meeting in Hiroshima, in a move that would likely draw an angry response from the government in Beijing.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington on Friday (April 8) that the US should discuss security issues any time it meets with key partners in Asia.

“What we want to see happen in South China Sea is important. It’s important to the region, it’s important to the stability of the region, so I would suggest that those topics should be on the table.”
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday said the G-7 meeting shouldn’t “hype” the South China Sea issue.    [FULL  STORY]