Wei Fenghe 

China’s State Councilor and Defence Minister General

The Chinese and U.S. defense chiefs will both go to the following week's extended gathering of Southeast Asian defense minister  in Cambodia

Defence chiefs of opponent powers China and the U.S. will both go to the following week's extended gathering of SASM in Cambodia, opening up the chance the two will hold eye-to-eye conversations.

The U.S.  said that Austin would hold a "casual multilateral engagement" with his ASEAN partners and meet with officials from Cambodia and others "to bring greater stability  to the Indo-Pacific region."

China is seeking to smooth over the dispute surrounding    its determination to assert its claim to the South China Sea