China is set to skip the Shangri-La Dialogue defence summit in Singapore for the second consecutive year amid a growing rift with Washington over Taiwan and the Iran issue, signalling Beijing’s rising superpower status.
The annual forum brings together top defence officials, scholars, and experts from more than 45 countries.
Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun’s absence means there will be no high-level meeting between the world’s top two (G2) economies due to ongoing friction on Taiwan, which China has warned could lead to military confrontation.
The United States’ war in Iran was viewed by Beijing as an attempt to limit China’s growing influence, since more than 57 per cent of its oil and energy supplies come from the Middle East.
For nearly two decades, the US has tried to pull China into direct military conflict. However, Beijing, which has so far avoided being dragged into the war, has openly threatened to launch military action if the US persists with its anti-China policy on Taiwan.
This development is seen as significant, as China has started asserting its military dominance and firepower more openly on the global stage.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s second trip to the Shangri-La Dialogue comes after President Donald Trump’s visit to China in May, during which he suggested that US arms sales to Taiwan could be used as a bargaining chip with Beijing.
Hegseth’s speech on Saturday is expected to be “quite strong against China, but mainly for internal (US) consumption", said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
He added, “Donald Trump can negotiate anything with anyone, even with enemies, while having some sort of bargaining chip like in the China-Taiwan case.”
"For one thing, China has truly arrived as a major power in the region, so it does not really need to send its defence minister to brave a fusillade of questions and try to 'score' brownie points," he said.
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