President Barack Obama will host the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next week and the White House has said he will deliver a tough message to China during the summit that 'bullying' has no place in resolving the disputes in the South China Sea.

The White House said on Tuesday that the South China Sea dispute must be tackled peacefully and diplomatically and not with a big nation 'bullying' smaller neighbors.

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A big part of the summit will have Obama address North Korea's 'provocations' as he hosts the members of the ASEAN in California on Monday and Tuesday Feb. 15 and 16 at the Sunnyland estate near Palm Springs, California.

                                                 Military facilities

Obama's deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said the President will reiterate Washington's position that territorial disputes over the international waterway, to which China and other nations from ASEAN have conflicting and overlapping claims, must be resolved through negotiations and within the realm of international law.

Rhodes said one of the focal points that will be addressed in the summit is China's continued building of islands and facilities  in the disputed waters which the US has repeatedly said could be turned into military use.

Although China will not be represented at the summit, Obama's aide said Washington will tackle Beijing's recent actions in the South China Sea.

                                              Halt land reclamation

"The president will call on all claimants to halt land reclamation, construction of new facilities and to carry out no militarization of outposts in the South China Sea," Dan Kritenbrink, Obama's top Asia adviser, told reporters at a press conference.

China is claiming ownership over most of the South China Sea, which is believed to have huge deposits of gas and oil. Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Brunei have overlapping claims over the reefs and islands of the international waterway in which $5 trillion worth of maritime trade passes through the waters yearly.

US authorities said Obama will call on the Southeast Asian nations to 'avert all possible efforts to resolve the disputes through one large nation bullying the smaller one.'

                                              Freedom of navigation

Rhodes also said the summit will highlight the need to uphold freedom of navigation and avoid unnecessary military action in the South China Sea.

China was recently angered by a US Navy warship which sailed within 12 nautical miles of an island claimed by China and two other nations in the South China Sea last month.

Reports said the US' incursion was deliberate and intended to counter what Washington deems as China's 'unacceptable' efforts to limit freedom of navigation.

                                             US navy warship

The US Navy warship that sailed within 12 nautical miles of China's controlled territory was the second such military exercise that Washington has carried out in the disputed waters since last year.

Rhodes said the President will also voice concerns over China's repeated test flights on its newly-built airstrip in the Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands.

TagsUS President Barack OBama, ASEAN, Sunnydale estate in California, Summit, US Navy warship