China gathered defence officials and experts from across the Asia-Pacific in Beijing Friday for a three-day security forum intended to boost the Asian giant's influence on the global stage.

The Xiangshan, or Fragrant Hills, conference comes as tensions rise between Washington and Beijing, the region's two largest economic and military powers, over the latter's construction of artificial islands in disputed South China Sea waters.

US officials have signalled they may soon send ships by the islands, challenging Chinese sovereignty claims in a strategically crucial area that hosts vital shipping lanes -- and Beijing has said it would "firmly oppose" such a move.

Five other countries in the region have rival claims to parts of the South China Sea -- four of them members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- and the disputes have sometimes spilled over into confrontations as vessels from the competing countries spar over fishing grounds and resource extraction.

Beijing offered to hold joint military exercises with ASEAN members next year in the South China Sea, the defence ministry said on its official Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter.

China already participates in military drills with several of its Southeast Asian neighbours.

The conference, the sixth of its kind, will be attended by 60 official delegations and 130 scholars, according to organisers.

It is part of China's broader effort to increase its international influence, which has also seen the creation of the multi-billion-dollar Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The event will give Beijing "a louder voice", according to a comment piece in the state-run China Daily newspaper, which added that it will help correct characterisations of China as "aggressive".

The conference is seen as a potential competitor to Singapore's showpiece Shangri-La Dialogue, which attracts top international military officials and experts to the city-state each spring.

In the past, that gathering has served as a forum for Western officials to dress Beijing down on its behaviour in the South China Sea, something less likely to occur on home turf.

- 'Peace patrols' -

The Xiangshan meeting followed an informal gathering of defence ministers from the 10-member ASEAN bloc in the Chinese capital on Friday.

The group includes Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, all of which have rival South China Sea claims, as does non-ASEAN member Taiwan.

Vietnam has repeatedly accused China of ramming its fishing boats as they ply local waters. The Philippines has taken its dispute to a United Nations tribunal, infuriating Beijing.

Indonesia's Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu proposed joint "peace patrols" between China and ASEAN countries in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the gatherings, according to Jakarta's state-run news agency Antara.

"If the countries who have interests in the South China Sea can calm tensions and are able to manage the conflict, there's no need to involve other parties in resolving the dispute," he was cited as saying.

ASEAN has for years called on China to negotiate a Code of Conduct for the region, a binding set of rules aimed at preventing actions that lead to conflict.

Beijing has agreed to engage in "consultations" on the issue, although not full negotiations.

Several ASEAN defence ministers stayed on in Beijing for the Xiangshan forum, including Vietnam's military chief.

The gathering's headline speaker is Hun Sen, the prime minister of Cambodia, which has close relations with China. It is not a claimant in the South China Sea and has backed Beijing's stance that ASEAN should stay out of the dispute.

Addressing the question of China's rising assertiveness in the region, Hun said that the country has been strengthening its military forces "in order to ensure its sovereignty and integrity".

"It's not a threat for the region or any country. I believe that. I'm confident of this."

Tensions in the South China Sea, he said, should be solved through "the existing China-ASEAN framework" especially "direct discussion among parties," a position long championed by China, but not the US, which favours a multilateral approach.

No American officials appear on the conference's agenda, although a prominent spot is given to retired US Navy Admiral Gary Roughead, who will speak on a panel with several defence ministers.

Japan ruling lawmaker invites China's Xi to Tokyo
Tokyo (AFP) Oct 16, 2015 - Japan Friday said it wished to improve its soured ties with Beijing, a day after a senior ruling lawmaker invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Tokyo next year.

Natsuo Yamaguchi, the head of Komeito, a junior partner in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition, met with Xi in Beijing Thursday and handed over a letter from the Japanese leader.

"I said (to Xi) we very much hope that the president would come to see cherry blossoms in Tokyo," Yamaguchi said late Thursday after seeing the Chinese leader as a member of a group of senior Asian political figures.

"The president gently smiled and nodded. Our feeling, our words, I think, have been received," he said.

Yamaguchi did not elaborate on what the letter said.

In Tokyo on Friday, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga avoided directly commenting whether Yamaguchi's comments reflected Tokyo's official position.

But he said Japan hoped to improve its ties with Beijing.

"Nothing has been decided about the Japan-China summit. But Japan and China are in agreement that the bilateral relations should be improved under the direction of a mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests," Suga said.

"We wish to build stable bilateral relations by continuing dialogues at various levels. In this respect, (Yamaguchi's) visit to China was extremely significant," he added.

Xi has not visited Japan since coming to power more than two years ago.

Bitter memories of Japan's violent rule in China before and during World War II continue to afflict their relations, with China asserting that Tokyo has not sufficiently atoned for its past.

The ties plunged in 2012 following Tokyo's nationalisation of disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Meanwhile, China's Communist party tends to stoke Chinese nationalism as part of its claim to legitimacy.

Abe's past visits to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine, seen by China as a symbol of Japan's war-time militarism, have also damaged relations between the two countries.

But over the last year the two nations have been making gradual and visible efforts to improve their relations.

Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi, the highest-ranking Chinese diplomat to make an official trip to Tokyo for several years, met with Abe on Wednesday in Tokyo.

Abe told Yang that he hoped to meet with Chinese leaders at upcoming international meetings, such as the G20.