China's top diplomat to visit Philippines for ASEAN summit

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit the Philippines to attend the China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Manila on Wednesday.

Wang will travel to Cholpon Ata, Kyrgyzstan, from July 23 to 25 to attend the Meeting of the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member States and visit Kyrgyzstan, a statement from Beijing's Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said ASEAN is a "friendly, close neighbor and an important cooperation partner and a priority in China's neighborhood diplomacy."

"China supports ASEAN centrality in the regional cooperation architecture and hopes to see booming East Asia cooperation, contributing more to stability, development and prosperity in the region and beyond," Lin told reporters in Beijing.

He said China's ties with the 11-member bloc "have been growing with sound momentum."

"At the upcoming foreign ministers' meeting," Lin said, China looks forward to "expanding consensus on development and cooperation, making new progress in jointly fostering a peaceful, safe and secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable home and striving to forge a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future."

Manila is hosting the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting and related meetings from July 20 to 24.

Whether Wang will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from participating nations on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering remains to be seen.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are among Wang's counterparts attending the summit.