The summit meeting US President Barrack Obama will be hosting for the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in California this month is not an anti-China effort, Washington has said.

The two-day summit, which will be held in the California resort of Sunnylands from February 15 to 16, was announced in November as a forum to strengthen cooperation between the US and the nations of the ASEAN.

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"This summit is not about China, it's about the US and ASEAN," US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Russel told the AP, Reuters and AFP news agencies on Wednesday. "This is not about China, this is not anti-China."

South China Sea Disputes

China is laying claim to almost all of the South China Sea.  Beijing's increasingly muscular approach toward its territorial assertions has led to disputes with the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, and Malaysia, each of which has overlapping claims on the waters.  

Singapore makes no claim over any of the disputed territories, but has in the past expressed concern over China's land reclamation policies. 

All five claimants are ASEAN member countries.

Analysts say the American president hopes to use his 'rebalance' policy toward the Asia Pacific to bolster the ASEAN as a counterpoint to Chinese economic dominance over the region.  

The organization, however, has over the years earned a reputation for the infighting and acrimony that often divides its members.  Plans by ASEAN leaders to develop a system to settle disputes in the South China Sea fell through in 2012, with Cambodia appearing to derail efforts aimed at establishing a maritime code of conduct.

The plans have not been revived since, in spite calls by the Philippines and Vietnam.

"Universal Principles"

"This is the culmination of a seven-plus-year investment the United States has made first and foremost in the Asia-Pacific region, but also in ASEAN in particular," Russel said.  "I think it demonstrates that the rebalance has reached cruising altitude."

The US has claimed that it takes no sides in the disputes over the South China Sea, but has repeatedly insisted -- both with naval operations and diplomatic representations -- on the maintenance of freedom of navigation across the contested waters.

"This set of challenges in Southeast Asia, particularly the disputes over land features and maritime entitlement in South China Sea, isn't a zero-sum game," said Russel, adding that the rival claims over the territory do not constitute a proxy war between China and the US.

"This is a direct challenge to the question of whether the countries in the region and the claimants in the South China Sea, and particularly China ...would be guided by the universal principles and the rule of law," Russel said, insisting that Asia is "not, certainly, a battleground for big powers' competition."   

TagsChina-ASEAN, China-US relations, Territorial disputes in the South China Sea