Japan Makes Overture to China in Islands Dispute

Separately, the Philippines announced Tuesday that it would formally challenge China’s claims in the South China Sea before a United Nations tribunal that oversees the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The Philippines has been in bitter argument with China since last summer when China effectively took control of an island in the South China Sea known in the Philippines as Scarborough Shoal, and as Huangyan island in China.


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