The Shangri-La Dialogue, an event that attracts top defense officials, senior military officers, diplomats , arms manufacturers and security analysts from around the world, will take place from June 2-4 this year in Singapore.
According to Reuters, more than 600 delegates from 49 countries will attend the conference, which will open with an important speech by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Analysts say the dialogue event is very valuable as many bilateral and multilateral military meetings are held on the sidelines of the plenary sessions, along with speeches by defense ministers.
A security checkpoint at the event. (Photo: Reuters)
However, China's new defense minister Li Shangfu recently refused to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, according to the Pentagon. A Chinese defense ministry spokesman told a news conference in Beijing that military-to-military exchanges have always taken place, but the U.S. "bears full responsibility" for the current predicament.
"On the one hand, the US has always said it wants to strengthen communication, but on the other hand, it ignores China's concerns and artificially creates obstacles, seriously eroding mutual trust between the two militaries," the spokesman said, without specifying what the obstacles were.
Mr Austin, speaking during a visit to Tokyo, said it was "unfortunate" that the two ministers did not meet as planned.
“I welcome any opportunity to interact with Mr. Lee,” Mr. Austin said. “I think the defense ministries should be talking to each other regularly or having open channels of communication.”
Analysts said the war in Ukraine, tensions with Taiwan and North Korea’s weapons programs would also be high on the agenda for many delegates. However, no delegates from Russia or North Korea were in attendance.
Some diplomats and defense analysts in the region said they would be watching the activities of China's new defense minister.
Mr Drew Thompson, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore (NUS), said rejecting the US was likely Mr Xi's decision.
“The fact that General Lee is sending out a series of messages that portray the United States in a very negative light, rather than in a direction of engaging in dialogue to improve and stabilize the relationship, is unfortunate,” Mr. Thompson said.
NUS political scientist Chong Ja Ian said the lack of a formal bilateral meeting did not mean there would be no contact between the two countries.
“I am sure they will confront each other in plenary sessions, then there will be breakout discussions and maybe informal conversations,” he said.
Lynn Kuok, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the think tank that organizes the Shangri-La Dialogue, said she was not optimistic about improving US-China relations.
“But what we really need to focus on here is the guardrails to prevent competition from turning into open conflict, but I think China is not sure about that yet,” Kuok said.
Other important issues likely to be discussed include the South China Sea and the East China Sea; the evolving security relationships of the AUKUS (Australia, UK, US); relationships within the “Quad” of the US, Japan, India and Australia, etc.
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