Officials from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations said today that they have agreed to a set of guidelines regarding cooperation in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The agreement was reached after senior officials from both sides met during annual ASEAN meetings in the Indonesian island of Bali, ahead of a gathering of their ministers today. While the guidelines were hailed publicly as a significant step in resolving territorial disputes in the resource-rich area, diplomats conceded that they have been watered down and contain more generalities than specifics. Moreover, differences still remain on which areas of the South China Sea are being disputed after China laid claims to the entire region and the Philippines said it would seek UN arbitration to define the areas under contention.