By Andrew BEATTY
President Barack Obama hosts South East Asian leaders at a California desert retreat Monday, hoping to increase pressure on China over land grabs in the South China Sea.
Obama hosts representatives from 10 ASEAN countries at Sunnylands, a secluded 200 acre resort beloved by US presidents since Dwight Eisenhower.
The White House sees this summit, and the prestigious venue, as an opportunity to champion Obama's "pivot to Asia" and ASEAN's growing importance, before the president leaves the White House in January 2017.
But the more immediate aim will be to secure a united front against China's island-building and military build-up in areas that are subject to a myriad of territorial claims.
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