China's President Xi Jinping told leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that Beijing would not “bully” its smaller regional neighbors, two weeks after Chinese coast guard vessels fired water cannons at Filipino boats inside Philippine waters. In the face of Beijing’s growing aggressiveness in the South China Sea, Xi told the ASEAN-China summit “we must jointly maintain the stability of the South China Sea and build the South China Sea into a sea of peace, friendship, and cooperation.”

Xi vows China won’t be a ‘bully,’ seek hegemony. (2021, November 23). Manila Standard, pp. A1, A2.