Fears about China’s increasingly bellicose actions in the South China Sea and the “truancy” of senior US leaders from recent Southeast Asian diplomatic events will be among the key talking points at this weekend’s meeting of regional defence chiefs, analysts said, despite host nation Thailand’s hopes participants will steer clear of controversial issues.

Beijing could vacation resort to navy conflict with self-ruled Taiwan to divert domestic stress, if a slowdown in the world’s second largest financial state amid trade war threatens the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Get together, the island’s foreign minister has claimed.

Chinese military contractors have already started to sell dangerous, autonomous killer robots to customers in the Middle East.

China is hopeful for “new progress” to be made in ongoing talks with the Asean bloc for a code of conduct governing the disputed South China Sea, Premier Li Keqiang said at a summit on Sunday, as other regional leaders called for countries to exercise restraint over the row.

The country's defense department on Sunday told China to follow international maritime laws "if it wants to earn the respect of the international community."

Taiwan will seek US help to assess the island’s military strength next year as defence analysts warned of a growing military threat from mainland China.

The United States and 22 other countries at the United Nations pushed China on Tuesday to stop detaining ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims, prompting China’s U.N. envoy to warn it was not “helpful” for trade talks between Beijing and Washington.