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Wang Yi, Rubio to attend this week's ASEAN meetings

Wang will also have bilateral talks with Philippine counterpart Maria Theresa Lazaro, foreign ministry spokesperson Dominic Xavier Imperial told a briefing.

Agencies
Manila, Philippines
Mon, July 20, 2026 Published on Jul. 20, 2026 Published on 2026-07-20T15:34:56+07:00

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) shakes hands with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Munich, on February 12, 2026, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) shakes hands with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Munich, on February 12, 2026, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. (AFP/Alex Brandon)

C

hina's Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend meetings hosted by the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila this week, the Philippine foreign ministry said on Monday.

Wang will also have bilateral talks with Philippine counterpart Maria Theresa Lazaro, foreign ministry spokesperson Dominic Xavier Imperial told a briefing.

Last week, the US State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to the Philippines next week to meet with his Southeast Asian counterparts.

The trip comes as the pace of strikes in the Middle East shows no signs of slowing, and just days after US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping attack Thursday on China -- alleging Beijing carried out substantial meddling in US elections.

Rubio is due to attend a meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Manila from Tuesday to Thursday. He attended last year's gathering in Kuala Lumpur.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the trip "advances a clear US priority: a free and open Indo-Pacific that delivers safety, security, and prosperity for the region and for the American people."

For Washington, that means seeking to counter China's growing influence.

The State Department provided no details of his schedule, but last year Rubio met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering. The two top diplomats spoke recently by telephone following Trump's visit to China last spring.

Iran will be on the agenda in Manila, with Asian countries -- particularly those that do not produce oil -- being hit hard by the conflict and its repercussions for traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

About 80 percent of the hydrocarbons passing through the waterway are bound for Asian countries, according to the International Energy Agency.

At a Cebu summit in May, the leaders of the 11 Southeast Asian countries discussed creating a shared fuel reserve, according to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, whose country holds ASEAN's rotating chairmanship this year.

Rubio is expected to meet Marcos as part of a strengthened US partnership with the Philippines, with the contentious issue of the South China Sea certain to come up. The waters are disputed by several members of the bloc and China.

 

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