Obama urges Asia to ease tensions over sea territory

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama believes there should be a reduction in tensions surrounding maritime territorial disputes in Asia, the White House said on Tuesday.

"There needs to be a lowering of tensions around these territorial disputes," Obama's deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

Obama is visiting Asia against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions between China and Japan and between China and several Southeast Asian nations over islands in the East China Sea and South China Sea. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Writing by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)