China may smother South China Sea agenda at regional forum

NUSA DUA, Indonesia/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China will likely exploit the absence of the U.S. president at a major Asian regional summit this week to brush off attempts to focus on the South China Sea dispute as Beijing continues to bolster its influence over the strategic waterway.

Any substantive progress in resolving the dispute is unlikely at the East Asia Summit beginning in Brunei on Wednesday and tensions between China and other claimants to the oil- and gas-rich sea will likely linger, analysts, senior regional officials and diplomats said.