Beijing says disputes over issue should not be subject to multilateral discussions

Few other trips made by Premier Li Keqiang have been more sensitively and subtly timed than his first foreign journey of the year - an official visit to Mongolia, where he also attended the 11th ASEM Summit that concluded on Saturday.

A new Mongolian prime minister was appointed five days before Li's arrival at Ulaanbaatar on Wednesday, and the South China Sea arbitration award was issued one day before the premier left for the visit and the summit, whose opening was clouded by a terrorist attack in Nice, France.