Meanwhile, the Philippines on Sunday issued a statement on behalf of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which took a soft stance towards China's island-building in the disputed waterway.
A chairman's statement from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was released about 12 hours after the summit ended, and dropped references to "land reclamation and militarization" included in the statement issued at last year's meeting and in an unpublished earlier version of this year's.
He has played down his country's territorial dispute with #China in favour of seeking greater economic aid and investment from it.China has sparked regional concern by turning reefs and shoals in contested areas into artificial islands, installing military facilities and airstrips on some of them.
But diplomats said other ASEAN nations, unhappy with intense Chinese lobbying of the Philippines, had sought to toughen up the chairman´s statement and there were hot debates on the issue leading up to Saturday´s summit.
In July 2016, the UN-backed arbitral tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines that China's historic nine-dash line, which claimed nearly all the South China Sea, has no historic and legal basis.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is boosting the Philippines' ties with China, is this year's ASEAN chairman.
An early draft of the communique obtained by the AP did not mention the ruling but used an alternative phrase - "full respect for legal and diplomatic processes".
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Patron said no ASEAN head of state had pushed for the inclusion of China's land reclamation and militarization in the chairman's statement.
It also reiterated the importance of "exercising self-restraint in the conduct activities, and avoiding actions that may further complicate the situation", and of "pursuing the peaceful resolution of disputes, without resorting to the threat of or use of force". Over the past couple of years China has been gradually expanding in the South China Sea in terms of military operations and fishing activities.
Duterte earlier in the day had called for "peaceful resolution of disputes" and respect for rule of law, saying, "In an era where there can be much uncertainty, we must faithfully adhere to the supremacy of the law and rely on the primacy of rules as responsible members of the worldwide community".
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Việt Nam. Diplomats from visiting delegations told AFP that Duterte, as host, had the final say on the wording.
Patron also disagreed with claims that the Philippines' hosting of ASEAN was a lost opportunity because of the exclusion of the arbitral ruling. The Chinese also wanted that removed because they believe it referred to the ruling, the officials said.
A draft statement issued prior to the 30th annual ASEAN summit urged North Korea to "immediately cease all actions that violate its global obligations and contravene United Nations Security Council resolutions". He take the side of China and event went to talk with President Xi Jinping for the last few months.
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