China will not send its defence minister to Shangri La Dialogue for the first time since 2019

BEIJING – China will not send Defence Minister Dong Jun to the upcoming Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) in Singapore, in a departure from Beijing’s high-level representation at the annual security forum in recent years.

Instead, China will send a People’s Liberation Army National Defence University delegation, China’s Ministry of Defence announced on May 29, just a day before the forum kicks off.

This would be the first time since 2019 that China has not sent its defence minister for the forum, where China’s views on issues such as Taiwan and the South China Sea are closely watched.

The forum is held from May 30 to June 1 in 2025.

This means that China cannot hold bilateral meetings at the ministerial level with other countries such as the United States.

At the 2024 forum, Admiral Dong met his then US counterpart Lloyd Austin for the first time on the sidelines of the event.

This year, the new administration of US President Donald Trump will be represented by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

China’s participation is among the highlights of the SLD. It is one of the few occasions where defence officials, academics and journalists from other countries can pose questions directly to a senior member of China’s defence establishment.

Other countries also find value at the SLD in being able to hold bilateral meetings with the Chinese defence minister.

The annual forum began in 2002, but China sent its defence minister to the dialogue for the first time only in 2011.

Between 2012 and 2018, its delegation was led by a senior official either from the Academy of Military Science or the Central Military Commission’s Joint Staff Department, until its then defence minister, General Wei Fenghe, did so in 2019.

Since then, China has sent defence ministers to defend its views on security