{"id":466,"date":"2026-05-30T08:10:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T08:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=466"},"modified":"2026-05-30T08:10:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T08:10:23","slug":"where-is-china-ask-delegates-at-asian-defence-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=466","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Where is China&#8217; ask delegates at Asian defence forum"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><div><div><ul><li>Summary<\/li><\/ul><\/div><div><\/div><\/div><div>SINGAPORE, May 30 (Reuters) &#8211; The big question hanging over this year&#8217;s Shangri-La \u200bDialogue, Asia&#8217;s premier defence forum, is: &#8220;Where is China?&#8221;<\/div><div>For the second year running, Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun has given the \u200cfree-wheeling Singapore security meeting a miss, skipping opportunities to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as well as counterparts from Australia, France, Britain, Japan and other nations.<\/div><div>In his place, Beijing sent a low-profile delegation of People&#8217;s Liberation Army &#8220;experts and scholars&#8221; &#8211; a step down from the usual high-powered presence.<\/div><div>A highlight of the dialogue&#8217;s annual programme \u200bhas been a robust speech by China&#8217;s defence minister or senior official laying out Beijing&#8217;s defence doctrine and outlook on global \u200btensions. But the speech helmed by China has been dropped from this year&#8217;s programme, like in 2025.<\/div><div>Even Hegseth \u2060took note.<\/div><div>&#8220;I wish my counterpart was here at this conference, but I look forward to other options when we can cross paths and \u200bcommunicate, talk about things where often actions at sea or actions in the air are perceived differently,&#8221; he said during his own keynote speech \u200bon Saturday.<\/div><div>Australia&#8217;s Richard Marles called it a lost opportunity for countries to have frank, face-to-face talks on flashpoints.<\/div><div>Dong Jun however, did meet Hegseth during U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s visit to China earlier this month.<\/div><div>Zhou Bo, a retired PLA senior colonel and a member of China&#8217;s delegation to the meeting, downplayed his absence.<\/div><div>&#8220;This is not the first \u200btime the defence minister is not attending,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And academic delegations have come before. But it is true that the level of the \u200bdelegation is relatively low this time.&#8221;<\/div><div>Some analysts point to a more calculated choice: avoiding questions like Taiwan tensions and the effect of military corruption purges on China&#8217;s \u200ccombat readiness.<\/div><div>&#8220;My \u2060feeling is that they are trying to avoid tough questions,&#8221; said Chong Ja Ian, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore.<\/div><div>&#8220;The question that comes up with the (Chinese) delegation, since it is so researcher heavy, is their representativeness and authoritativeness.&#8221;<\/div><h2>HEGSETH&#8217;S COMMENTS ON CHINA THIS YEAR RESTRAINED<\/h2><div>Diplomats said Beijing may also have wanted to avoid a repeat of last year&#8217;s dialogue, when Hegseth described China as a threat in the Indo-Pacific and \u200burged Asian allies to boost defence \u200bspending.<\/div><div>Beijing responded at the time \u2060by accusing the United States of vilifying China.<\/div><div>This year, Hegseth struck a more measured tone, although he cautioned that &#8220;no state, including China, can impose its hegemony and hold the security or prosperity of our nation and \u200bour allies in question&#8221;.<\/div><div>He added that U.S.-China relations were better than they had been in many years.<\/div><div>China \u200bbegan sending a usually \u2060high-powered delegation to the 23-year-old event in 2007. It dispatched its defence minister in 2011 and again in 2019, and continued the practice from 2022 to 2024. The Shangri-La Dialogue was suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/div><div>Bilahari Kausikan, a veteran Singapore diplomat, said the Shangri-La Dialogue \u2060was always \u200bprimarily about anchoring the U.S. in Southeast Asia and ensuring its defense chief comes \u200bto Singapore and Southeast Asia at least once a year.<\/div><div>&#8220;Whether China is represented by its defence minister is a secondary factor. It would be nice but not essential to \u200bhave the Chinese defence minister here.\u201d<\/div><div><address><div><div><noscript>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"120\" height=\"120\" alt=\"Claire Fu\" class=\"wp-image-464\" src=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1b359aeeb09eb0deb8410dde210f57bd.avif\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/noscript><\/div><div>Claire Fu<\/div><\/div><div><ul><li><span><div><svg><title>Email<\/title><\/svg><\/div><\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/address><address><div><div><noscript>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"120\" height=\"120\" alt=\"Xinghui Kok\" class=\"wp-image-465\" src=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6816ee0a06811d061850739b5551be28.avif\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/noscript><\/div><div>Xinghui Kok<\/div><\/div><div><ul><li><span><div><svg><title>Email<\/title><\/svg><\/div><\/span><\/li><li><span><div><svg><title>X<\/title><\/svg><\/div><\/span><\/li><li><span><div><svg><title>Linkedin<\/title><\/svg><\/div><\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/address><\/div><\/div><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=462\">Myanmar\u2019s junta chief turned president heads to India, with an eye on China<\/a><\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=460\">Trump in excellent health with leg swelling, hand bruising, doctor says<\/a><\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=458\">Exclusive: From lottery draws to fiscal spending, China broadens digital yuan footprint<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The big question hanging over this year&#8217;s Shangri-La \u200bDialogue, Asia&#8217;s premier defence forum, is: &#8220;Where is China?&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-china"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Where is China&#039; 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