Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth is the headliner at the main Asia-Pacific defense forum which opens on Friday, but no senior Chinese official is present, leaving Washington to set the tone on Taiwan and Iran.
For the second year in a row, China will not send Dong Jun, its Defense Minister, to the “Shangri-La Dialogue” organized in Singapore. The event brings together military leaders and researchers from around 45 countries for three days.
For analysts, Beijing’s sending of a low-level delegation, made up mainly of military experts, is a sign of the growing power of the Asian giant, which no longer bothers to send its senior officials there.
The Shangri-La Dialogue offers speeches and round tables every year. It provides a setting conducive to the exchange of views, including between rival countries, during public sessions or in the privacy of the cozy lounges of a luxury hotel.
But no meeting will therefore take place between Dong Jun and Pete Hegseth.
The two men would, however, have had grounds for discussion: from the way for the United States to find a way out of the war against Iran – potentially with the help of China – to the ultra-sensitive issue of Taiwan, where Beijing regularly warns Washington against any interference.
Pete Hegseth’s visit comes two weeks after a state visit by Donald Trump to China, where the issue of American arms sales to Taiwan was raised.
– “Quite virulent” –
According to the tenant of the White House, they also constitute “a very good negotiating asset” to put pressure on Beijing on other subjects.
Pete Hegseth’s speech on Saturday morning should, however, be “quite virulent against China”, predicts Oh Ei Sun, researcher at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
“With Trump, everything is negotiable. Even with enemies, agreements can be reached (…) including using Taiwan as a bargaining chip,” he told AFP.
Donald Trump claimed to have concluded “fantastic” trade agreements during his visit to China, without however making any progress with Beijing on the war in Iran.
China sent Dong Jun to the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2024 and he met his American counterpart at the time, Lloyd Austin.
But he “was absent last year, because apparently China did not wish to dialogue” with Pete Hegseth, says William Choong, researcher at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, in Singapore.
China is represented this year by Major General Meng Xiangqing of the National Defense University. He leads a group of experts and members of this institution, but also of the Academy of Military Sciences and the Navy.
In an analysis published for the Lowy Institute think tank, William Choong believes that the reasons for Dong Jun’s absence seem obvious.
– Counter criticism –
“China has now become a great regional power, so it doesn’t really need to send its defense minister to face a barrage of questions and try to make itself look good,” he underlines.
But like last year, Beijing will have no senior leader on site to counter possible criticism from Washington on Taiwan or the South China Sea.
“With the image of American leadership deteriorating”, China could have taken advantage of the opportunity to “ease regional tensions” and reassure its neighbors by recalling its position according to which the military option will only be used against Taiwan “as a very last resort”, underlines Mr. Choong.
Another opportunity for the United States to set its pace: the American, British and Australian defense ministers are due to meet on the sidelines of the forum.
These three countries founded the “Aukus” military cooperation agreement. Its official objective is to strengthen stability in the Asia-Pacific, but Beijing sees it as an attempt to counter its development.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles assured reporters on Friday that Australia sought to “preserve the rules-based global order.”
“China has considerably strengthened its army (…) without the strategic guarantees that we hoped for,” he launched, in a first charge against Beijing.
published May 29 at 10.32am, AFP
