China's defense chief to attend meetings with ASEAN defense leaders

Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun is set to attend two high-level defense meetings with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia from Thursday to Sunday, a defense spokesman said on Thursday.

Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesman for the ministry, made the announcement at a regular news conference in Beijing. The two meetings — the 12th ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus and the 15th China-ASEAN Defense Ministers' Informal Meeting — will be held in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Southeast Asian country.

Dong's attendance was at the invitation of the Ministry of National Defense of Malaysia, the rotating chair of ASEAN, Zhang said, noting that at the ADMM-Plus, the defense chief will deliver a speech to review its 15-year history.

"At the China-ASEAN Defense Ministers' Informal Meeting, he will deliver a speech on Future-Oriented China-ASEAN Defense Cooperation," Zhang said.

On the sidelines of the events, Dong will have bilateral meetings with defense leaders of relevant countries, he said, without naming specific nations.