No Dong Jun, but plenty of China at Shangri-La Dialogue<\/p>\n
China\u2019s defence minister may not have attended this year\u2019s Shangri-La\nDialogue but the country still loomed large and remained at the centre\nof discussion.<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE: Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun may have skipped the\nShangri-La Dialogue for the second year in a row - but China still\nloomed large, featuring prominently in regional security discussions,\nincluding a maritime dispute involving a Dutch warship from earlier in\nthe week and sharp exchanges over what Beijing described as \u201cnew\nmilitarism\u201d by Tokyo.<\/p>\n
More than 550 delegates, including military leaders and senior\nofficials, from more than 40 countries attended the three-day forum at\nShangri-La Hotel - which concluded on Sunday (May 31).<\/p>\n
Led by Major General Meng Xiangqing, this year\u2019s Chinese delegation\nfrom the People\u2019s Liberation Army National Defence University, drew\nheated questions from delegates.<\/p>\n
\u201cNEW MILITARISM\u201d AND OLD GRIEVANCES<\/p>\n
At a panel on Sunday, Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi hit\nback at China\u2019s accusations of \u201cnew militarism\u201d - reiterating that Tokyo\nhas \u201cconsistently respected international law\u201d, alongside efforts to\nmaintain and strengthen a \u201cfree and open international order\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cJapan\u2019s past as a peace-loving nation has been valued by the region\nand by the international community,\u201d Koizumi said, adding that Japan\u2019s\ndoor to dialogue is \u201calways open\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis fact will not be shaken by false claims, because it is a\nfact.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also criticised Beijing for \u201ccontinuing to increase its defence\nspending\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina is rapidly expanding its military capabilities across a wide\nrange of areas without sufficient transparency,\u201d Koizumi said, adding\nthat these are matters of \u201cserious concern\u201d for Japan and the\ninternational community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and\nstrategic bombers. Japan has neither such weapons, and yet Japan is\nlabelled new militarism. Isn\u2019t it strange?\u201d<\/p>\n
Recalling a \u201cfrank and fruitful discussion\u201d with Chinese counterpart\nDong Jun last year at the ASEAN Defence Ministers\u2019 Meeting Plus talks in\nKuala Lumpur, Koizumi reiterated that Japan believes it is essential to\nhave \u201cpersistent, candid dialogue and communication\u201d without turning\naway from difficult issues.<\/p>\n
Koizumi added that the Japanese defence ministry would continue to\nuse \u201cevery available opportunity to communicate firmly with the Chinese\nside\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease give my best regards to my counterpart Dong Jun,\u201d he said,\naddressing Chinese delegates in the audience.<\/p>\n
At the summit a day earlier, Major General Meng criticised Japan\u2019s\nefforts to revise its \u201cpacifist constitution\u201d and the three non-nuclear\nprinciples, as well as its pursuit of the deployment of allied nuclear\nweapons on Japanese territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, some forces continue to openly glorify war crimes, promote\ndistorted narratives of WW II history, attempt to challenge the verdicts\nof the Tokyo Trial, and seek to whitewash the history of aggression,\u201d\nMeng said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome have even taken concrete steps to break through the constraints\nof the post-war peace framework,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He also questioned if a country that has \u201cnever fully eradicated the\nremnants of militarism\u201d can claim the moral authority to lecture others\nabout defence cooperation on the international stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan it earn the trust of the international community, especially the\nAsian countries that once suffered under its aggression? I have serious\ndoubts,\u201d Meng said.<\/p>\n
ILLEGAL INTRUSION AND FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION<\/p>\n
At the session, Dutch Defence Minister Dilan Ye\u015filg\u00f6z-Zegerius\naddressed an incident earlier this week involving Dutch frigate De\nRuyter, which Beijing had accused of \u201cillegally intruding\u201d into the\nParacel Islands in the contested South China Sea.<\/p>\n
Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the resource-rich South China\nSea, while Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei\nand the Philippines have competing claims.<\/p>\n
The Netherlands said the HNLMS De Ruyter was sailing through the\nSouth China Sea for diplomatic, security and economic reasons.<\/p>\n
Ye\u015filg\u00f6z-Zegerius reiterated that the ship had followed its planned\nroute in \u201cfull accordance with international law - operating in waters\nwhere freedom of navigation applies and without entering territorial\nwaters\u201d.<\/p>\n
Chinese representative Liu Wanxia said Dutch navy helicopters had\n\u201cillegally intruded into China\u2019s territorial airspace\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Dutch side talks a lot about respecting sovereignty and rules,\nbut it uses so-called freedom of navigation as a pretext to severely\nviolate China\u2019s sovereignty rights and interests and maritime and air\nsecurity,\u201d Liu said.<\/p>\n
Responding, Ye\u015filg\u00f6z-Zegerius emphasised that the Netherlands was\n\u201cnot here to seek conflict\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are here to seek cooperation with our frigates and we did more or\nless the same two years ago in good cooperation with China - and I hope\nthe next time we are here in the area we will have a better\nencounter.\u201d<\/p>\n
HISTORIC RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW<\/p>\n
Beyond the dispute involving the Dutch warship, the South China Sea\nremained a recurring theme at the summit.<\/p>\n
Addressing attendees during the final panel, Philippines Secretary of\nNational Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr noted that 2026 marked the 10th\nanniversary of an arbitral tribunal ruling in favour of the Philippines\nin its case against China concerning the South China Sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis landmark ruling affirmed the fundamental principle that\nmaritime entitlements are derived not from \u2018historic rights\u2019 but from\ninternational law,\u201d Teodoro said, also accusing Beijing of not\n\u201chonouring their obligations\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines, Teodoro said Manila remained\nunder \u201csevere threat\u201d from Beijing - territorially and politically,\ndespite a recent thaw in US-China tensions following a summit between\nPresidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no choice but really to be resilient and to stand up against\nChinese aggression,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In response to Teodoro\u2019s remarks, the Chinese E<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/no-dong-jun-but-plenty-of-china-at-shangri-la-dialogue-1780281058", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }