The South China Sea issue is likely to come up on the sidelines of the APEC summit if it is not on the formal agenda, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Tuesday.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is scheduled for Nov. 17-19 in Manila. China has said it is not aware of any plan to discuss the issue at the leaders' summit, a Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed and David Alexander; Editing by Eric Beech)