he spoke with thomas berger, an expert on international relations at boston university. >> hello. the u.s. and japan brought up the south china sea issue. how was that received at the summit, do you think? >> overall i think that the reception in southeast asia was quite positive with some exception. obviously china was not that happy with the issue being raised. china has been insisting that this is an issue that needs to be resolved by china and different countries which have a dispute with china. on a bilateral, country to country basis. and the reason china wants to do this, we think, is because it would like to pursue what is known as a divide and conquer strategy by negotiating with individual countries separately. it is in a stronger position, a dominant party. and hopes to be able to get a solution to the issues which favors its interests. >> and professor china seems to have warned some asian countries to its side. do you think there is risk among related countries? >> some countries like cambodia, laos are economically dependent on china and their governments have been v