Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Beijing for talks Tuesday , with competing maritime claims of China and its neighbors expected to dominate the agenda . Tensions over territorial disputes have spiked this year between China and a string of countries around its coastline -- from Vietnam in the southwest to Japan in the northeast -- and the United States has been drawn into the fray . Clinton met with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Tuesday . She is scheduled to hold a news conference with Yang Wednesday and meet with several leaders , including President Hu Jintao . Yang welcomed Clinton and stressed `` important progress in some areas '' in their relationship , according to remarks released by the U.S. State Department . `` Maintaining the healthy and steady development of our relationship serves the fundamental interests of our two countries and two peoples and is conducive to stability , peace , and development in the Asia Pacific region and beyond , '' he said . Clinton stressed `` the importance of the practical cooperation that underlies our comprehensive relationship . '' `` We are committed to building a cooperative partnership with China ; it is a key aspect of our rebalancing in the Asia Pacific . And we have had a lot of in-depth consultations and high-level meetings over the last three and a half years . '' In Indonesia Monday , Clinton reiterated that `` the United States does not take a position on competing territorial claims over land . '' Instead , the U.S. government is pressing China and other countries in the region to agree to a code of conduct and procedures for resolving disagreements peacefully . Interactive : Asia 's disputed islands - who claims what ? But Beijing , which prefers to tackle the disputes bilaterally , has reacted angrily to Washington 's involvement in the matter , accusing the State Department of `` unfounded accusations '' and showing a `` total disregard of facts . '' The Global Times , a Chinese newspaper affiliated with the ruling Communist Party , said in an editorial published Tuesday that Clinton 's diplomacy in the region `` has fomented frictions between China and some surrounding countries . '' It called on her to `` reflect upon the deep harm she is bringing to the Sino-US relationship . '' Clinton will have to negotiate such Chinese hostility to U.S. efforts to address the tangle of tensions across the South China Sea and beyond . More : Islands dispute reopens old wounds . Countries like Vietnam and the Philippines lay claim to some areas of the South China Sea , a 1.3 million square-mile patch of the Pacific Ocean dotted with hundreds of largely uninhabited islands and coral atolls . But China has declared `` indisputable sovereignty '' over large swathes of the area , which is rich in marine life . The stakes are raised further by estimates that potentially huge reserves of natural gas and oil lie underneath the seabed . The scope for conflict was demonstrated in April when a Philippine Navy vessel confronted Chinese fishing boats in a remote rocky outcrop claimed by both countries . Opinion : Why Asia is arguing over its islands . The resulting naval standoff between the two countries lasted for more than three months and aroused fears of an open conflict before the Philippines withdrew its ships in June , citing stormy weather . The issue of who the lagoon belongs to remains unresolved . Analysts have expressed pessimism that the disputes in the South China Sea will be defused soon . `` While the likelihood of major conflict remains low , all of the trends are in the wrong direction , and prospects of resolution are diminishing , '' the International Crisis Group said in a July report . Tensions have also flared recently over a long-running dispute concerning a group of islands in the East China Sea claimed by China , Japan and Taiwan . Furious anti-Japan protests erupted across China last month when a Japanese group sailed to one of the disputed islets and symbolically waved Japanese flags . And on Sunday , the controversial governor of Tokyo , Shintaro Ishihara , dispatched a team to survey the islands as part of an effort to purchase them from the private owners . Chinese state-run media immediately declared the survey `` illegal . '' The uninhabited islands are known in Japan as Senkaku and in China as Diaoyu , and are privately owned by a Japanese family .
NEW : Secretary of State Clinton is visiting Beijing for talks . China : Analysts doubt the South China Sea disputes will be soon be defused . The United States says it does n't take sides in the territorial disputes . But China has expressed anger over U.S. comments on the issue .