JAKARTA/BEIJING -- Southeast Asian nations have cut their defense budgets to fund efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, leaving them with fewer resources to respond to China's increasingly aggressive territorial claims in the region.
ASEAN's focus on pandemic fight risks sowing discord with US
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China is planning massive military exercises as early as this summer. © Kyodo
JAKARTA/BEIJING -- Southeast Asian nations have cut their defense budgets to fund efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, leaving them with fewer resources to respond to China's increasingly aggressive territorial claims in the region.