U.S: No ASEAN South China Sea Consensus is Telling

The inability of a forum of Southeast Asian defence ministers to agree on a joint statement at the end of a forum on Wednesday reflects their concern about China's activity in the South China Sea, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said.

"It was clearly an issue of discussion and an issue of concern by countries in the meeting, because everybody raised it," Carter told a news conference.

The Association of South East Asian Nations held its defence ministers meet this week, joined by other countries including the United States China, Japan and Australia.

Reporting By Trinna Leong and Yeganeh Torbati