【明報專訊】IT IS in the Annenberg Retreat (California), where Xi Jinping met for the first time after he had taken office his US counterpart Barack Obama, that the first US-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit is to take place in the middle of this month. Last week US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Laos (which currently chairs ASEAN) and Cambodia (an ASEAN member that is China's staunchest ally). He had only one theme - to put together a united front against China over the South China Sea question.