VLADIVOSTOK, Russia: Increasingly tense territorial rows in the Asia-Pacific threaten the global economy, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned yesterday at the end of a leaders’ summit plagued by divisions.

The annual gathering of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) heads was meant to build goodwill in long-term efforts to tear down trade barriers within their bloc, which accounts for more than half of the world’s economic output.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Chinese President Hu Jintao did not hold customary talks on the summit sidelines because of a row. Similarly Noda and South Korea’s Lee Myung-Bak — both allies of Washington — shunned each other.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino also failed to meet with Hu, after declaring it his top priority beforehand.

The Philippines and China have endured months of bruising diplomacy over competing claims to the South China Sea — of which Beijing claims almost all — including a maritime standoff.

“Now is the time for everyone to make efforts to reduce the tension and strengthen the diplomatic involvement,” Clinton, who was filling in for US President Barack Obama, told reporters as she prepared to leave Vladivostok.

“It’s not in the interest of the Asian countries, it’s certainly not in the interest of the United States or the rest of the world, to raise doubts and uncertainties about the stability and peace in the region.”

Clinton urged Seoul and Tokyo to “lower the temperature” over sparsely populated islands known by Koreans as Dokdo and by Japanese as Takeshima, but controlled by South Korea and where Lee made an unprecedented visit last month.

Japan’s relations have also deteriorated anew with China over competing claims to islands in the East China Sea.

APEC spans the Pacific Rim, from China to Chile, and includes the world’s three biggest national economies — the United States, China and Japan — with its 21 members accounting for 44 percent of the world’s trade.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement expressed concerns over global challenges, saying the economy was “subject to downside risks.”