Lich will also have bilateral meetings with other participating defense ministers on the sidelines of the three-day summit that ends June 2.

The annual Shangri-La Dialogue is Asia's premier defense summit where ministers debate the region’s most pressing security challenges and come up with solutions together.

This year’s dialogue includes six plenary sessions to discuss the U.S.’s vision for Indo-Pacific security, Korean security, Asia’s evolving security order and its challenges, China and international security cooperation, preventing conflict in contested domains, and ensuring a resilient and stable region.

The event also features six simultaneous special sessions covering maritime security, defense industrial development, and defense cooperation.

Observers expect that the China - U.S.'s tensed relationship will take center stage, with the defense leaders of both countries scheduled to speak.

Patrick Shanahan, Acting Secretary of Defense of the U.S, will deliver a speech over Washington's Indo-Pacific strategies, while Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe is scheduled to speak of China's position in the region, marking the first time a Chinese defense minister attends the dialogue in eight years.

The two biggest economies are locked in an escalating trade war and also at odds over several strategic issues, including the disputed South China Sea, which Vietnam calls the East Sea.