Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia this week amid simmering tensions between Beijing and Manila in the South China Sea.
Wang begins the four-day Southeast Asia trip on Thursday, the foreign ministry said. It will be his first official trip as foreign minister since he was reappointed to the job on July 25.
It comes after a Chinese coastguard vessel fired water cannon at a Philippine supply ship in Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea over the weekend. The disputed reef is claimed by both Beijing and Manila.
