Hanoi | South-east Asian foreign ministers kicked off a series of regional summits on Wednesday expected to seek collaboration to fight global threats, and to try to de-escalate a tit-for-tat rivalry as the world's two biggest economies vie for influence.

Russia, Japan, Australia, South Korea and India are among those remotely joining an event hosted by Vietnam that will include a 27-nation security forum, as concern grows about rhetoric and accidental conflict, and about other countries being caught up in the fray.

Reuters