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Clinton also used the conference to buttress Vietnam's position in a dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea, declaring a peaceful resolution of the issue to be in the "national interest" of the United States.
She also lobbied for a multilateral diplomatic solution to the question -- an approach Hanoi has been seeking for years. China, which claims most of the sea as its territory, has demanded all disputes be settled bilaterally.
"We oppose the use or threat of force by any claimant," Clinton said in prepared remarks. She later called the conversation "very productive."
Vietnam and the United States were not alone in confronting China on this issue. At least 10 other participants in the meeting raised concerns about maritime security issues, including the sensitive territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Beijing, meanwhile, opposed any effort to "internationalize" the issue.
Clinton has made four stops on her week-long Asian trip, all marking U.S. overseas conflicts. In South Korea, she and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates marked the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean conflict with a pledge of nearly unlimited support. She was warmly received in Vietnam, where her visit marked the 15th anniversary of the normalization of relations. The war in Afghanistan, where she stopped for a day after visiting Pakistan, has now become the longest in U.S. history.
Clinton expressed hope that the aftermath of the first two wars would prove an example to the third. "The extraordinary economic progress and strengthening of institutions that we've seen over the last 60 years in South Korea and the last 35 years in Vietnam are encouraging to anyone who hopes for the best in Afghanistan," she said.
Correspondent Chico Harlan in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and staff writer John Pomfret in Washington contributed to this report.
