China and other Asian countries could end up at war over territorial disputes if governments keep up their “provocative behavior, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday.

Japan should respect its bilateral relations with Taiwan and work toward solving the territorial dispute over the Tiaoyutai Islands peacefully, said Taiwan's representative to Japan in an article published Sunday.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Sunday Japan should not make a “wrong decision” over a territorial dispute when he met Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda after weeks of tension between the neighbors, media reported.

Japan will not hold summit talks with either China or South Korea on the sidelines of an upcoming Asia-Pacific meeting, the prime minister said Friday, amid rows over disputed islands.

Japan and China are unlikely to hold summit talks on the sidelines of an upcoming Asia-Pacific meeting because of a row over disputed islands, a report said Thursday.

Japan's government has agreed to buy islands at the center of a territorial row with China, reports said Wednesday, as it tries to both placate nationalists and prevent ties with Beijing deteriorating further.

Southeast Asian states must present a united front to the Chinese in dealing with territorial disputes in the South China Sea to “literally calm the waters,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday.

South Korea and Japan have temporarily suspended a military exchange program amid a territorial row over a set of disputed islands, defense officials said Monday.

Taiwan does not recognize any move by the Japanese government to nationalize the Tiaoyutai Islands and has expressed concern over a visit to the area by Tokyo City government personnel as part of the city's efforts to buy the island chain, a Taiwanese official said Sunday.

Tokyo city officials planning to buy tiny islands at the center of a longtime territorial dispute with China surveyed the area Sunday on a visit meant to send a message of ownership.