The annual three-day Beijing Xiangshan Forum took place in Beijing, the first time in four years that the forum has taken place live. Xiangshan is a gathering of defense officials from all over the world to discuss issues of global security. This year has seen a much larger group of people from over 100 countries, regional institutions and international organizations, and at a higher level of representation than in previous years. This year also shows a greater turnout from developing countries. The theme of this year’s forum is “Common Security, Lasting Peace.” The U.S. is also sending a delegation, with the participation of the head of the Pentagon’s China desk, Cynthia Carlisle. Not a very high-level participation from the U.S. side, but the fact that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is attending and the fact that there is not yet a new Chinese Defense Minister named, precluded any high-level military-to-military summit, which both sides are expecting in the near future.
There will be a number of panel discussions over the next few days, including one on the Israel-Palestine conflict and one on the conflict in Ukraine. In addition, there will be “high-end dialogues” on topics such as the Global South, major power relations, Asia-Pacific security, Chinese modernization, Belt and Road development, SCO cooperation, and international conflict mediation. Already a panel on U.S.-Chinese relations had led to a good deal of criticism of U.S. policy, while expressing some hope in improvement in the light of Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Washington and the various high-level meetings held between the two parties. Two very knowledgeable Chinese U.S.-watchers, former Ambassador Cui Tiankai, and former National People’s Congress Foreign Affairs chief Fu Ying, both expressed themselves quite frankly.
