(May 26): China’s top military official is expected to skip Asia’s biggest defence forum for a second year in a row, according to people familiar with the matter, ceding to the US and its allies an opportunity for public defence diplomacy.
Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun will likely skip the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore this weekend, according to people familiar with the matter. Instead, Beijing is expected to dispatch a lower-profile delegation from the People’s Liberation Army National Defence University, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t yet public.
They didn’t provide a reason for Dong’s expected absence, adding that the plan is still fluid and subject to change at the last minute. China typically doesn’t confirm the visits of key officials until a day or two before an event.
China’s Defense Ministry, Singapore’s Ministry of Defence and the UK-headquartered International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the event’s organizer, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The three-day Singapore summit is a rare chance for regional military officials to put unscripted questions directly to defence leaders in a public setting. Traditionally, the sitting Pentagon chief delivers a major policy address on Saturday morning, followed by the Chinese counterpart on Sunday.
The last time that happened was in 2024, when Dong and then-defense secretary Lloyd Austin also held a rare face-to-face meeting on the sidelines.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will attend this year’s forum fresh off a trip to China this month as part of President Donald Trump’s delegation. While that included a brief banquet chat with Dong, via a translator, Dong’s likely absence means the world’s two largest economies will miss another window for direct high-level military communication at a critical time for the US-China relationship.
Military tensions between the two have persisted over a range of issues, most notably Taiwan and the South China Sea. Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered Beijing’s starkest warning yet to Trump over Taiwan during his visit, cautioning the issue could lead to clashes that push their relationship into “a highly dangerous situation”.
As another point of evidence it’s pulling back from Western-backed forums, Beijing has increasingly promoted its own military summit, the Xiangshan Forum. Typically opened by China’s defence minister, that event hosts global military officials but is usually attended by only a lower-level US delegation.
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Still, China’s Ministry of Defence has signalled it’s open to building trust with Washington. Hegseth previously sat down with Dong in October 2025 for their first in-person meeting since Trump returned to the White House.
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