deemed to be substantially big for him in regards to South China Sea.

Laos wants to see maritime rights respected and avoid a military build-up in the South China Sea, Kerry said Monday, after a meeting with Laos’ Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong to urge ASEAN unity in the face of Chinese claims.

Laos is the 2016 chair of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and hosts a summit later in the year that will include the leaders of the United States and China.

“He was very clear he wants a unified ASEAN and he wants maritime rights protected, and he wants to avoid militarization and to avoid conflict,” Kerry told reporters after meeting Thongsing in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

Laos has close political and economic ties with giant neighbor China, prompting the Obama administration to worry that Vientiane might behave like Cambodia did when it held the ASEAN chair in 2012.