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The defense chiefs of rival powers China and the U.S. will both attend next week’s expanded meeting of Southeast Asian security ministers in Cambodia, though it’s unclear whether they would meet face to face.
China’s Defense Ministry said Gen. Wei Fenghe will attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus from Sunday to Thursday.
The Department of Defense said Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III will also attend following stops in Canada and Indonesia.
Both officials plan to meet with participants on the margins of the main gathering of ministers from the 10-nation organization known as ASEAN.
Their two countries are chief rivals for influence in the region, where China is seeking to smooth over disputes surrounding its determination to assert its claim to the South China Sea, including through the construction of artifical islands equipped with airstrips and other infrastructure.
The two countries are also at odds over Russia, which China has refused to condemn or sanction over its invasion of Ukraine, and the status of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory and threatens to attack.
