KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and his Malaysian counterpart will cruise on the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Thursday, a U.S. defense official said, for a voyage likely to highlight tension over rival claims in the East Vietnam Sea.

There was no information about where the U.S. warship would sail but it has been on patrol in the East Vietnam Sea where territorial disputes between China and several of its neighbours have raised fears of conflict.

Ash and the Malaysian minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, have been attending a regional defence ministers' meeting in Malaysia, along with the Chinese defense chief, where differences over the East Vietnam Sea surfaced.