China, ASEAN foreign ministers to meet next week over virus spread

Chinese and ASEAN foreign ministers have decided to hold an emergency meeting in Laos next week over the recent outbreak of a new pneumonia-causing coronavirus raging across mainland China, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.The gathering would be convened as proposed by China, which wants to tie up with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to curb a further spread of the new virus, which has so far infected more than 40,000 people and killed over 1,000, the sources said.Beijing is apparently eager to hold such a meeting in an attempt to maintain its influence over ASEAN, at a time when …READ FULL ARTICLE