China sent no defense minister to Asia's most prominent annual security forum for the second consecutive year — yet managed to remain one of the most dominant presences at the event.
The 23rd IISS Shangri-La Dialogue concluded on May 31 in Singapore, with tensions over the South China Sea, Japan's defense posture, and the broader U.S.-China strategic rivalry defining much of the proceedings.
Rather than deploying a cabinet-level official, Beijing dispatched a delegation led by Meng Xiangqing (孟祥青), a professor at China's National Defense University. The downgrade in diplomatic rank was deliberate — but it did not translate into a lower-profile performance on the floor.
From pressing the Philippine defense secretary on South China Sea claims to demanding wartime apologies from Japan, China's delegation displayed its characteristic "wolf warrior" diplomacy — turning a forum designed for dialogue into a charged arena of confrontation.
From "Minister Diplomacy" to "Scholar Diplomacy": China's Tactical Shift
In previous years, Chinese defense ministers — including Wei Fenghe (魏鳳和) and Li Shangfu (李尚福) — used the Shangri-La stage to engage in high-profile exchanges with their U.S. counterparts, signaling Beijing's strategic weight to Southeast Asian audiences.
This year, Beijing appeared to recalibrate. Several factors likely informed the decision. A recent meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump had produced a temporary thaw in U.S.-China relations. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered a notably restrained address, emphasizing allied burden-sharing and Indo-Pacific security cooperation rather than foregrounding Taiwan — a departure from prior years.
Beijing, for its part, appeared unwilling to give Western media another opportunity to press senior Chinese officials on Taiwan, the South China Sea, or military anti-corruption investigations. Sending academics and retired officers, rather than a serving minister, allowed China to remain engaged while limiting political exposure.
The approach, however, was anything but passive. Chinese delegation members repeatedly intervened during plenary sessions, targeting both Japan and the Philippines.
On Japan, delegation head Meng directly questioned whether "a country that has not fully reckoned with its militarist history" has the standing to participate in regional security cooperation. A second delegation member, Senior Colonel Shen Zhixiong (沈志雄), pressed Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro (小泉進次郎) to offer equal apologies to China, South Korea, and Southeast Asian nations victimized during World War II.
Chinese state media subsequently characterized Koizumi's response as evasive, with multiple outlets following up with criticism that Tokyo "refused to reflect" on its wartime record.
On the South China Sea, National Defense University professor Zhang Chi (張弛) accused the Philippines of contradicting itself — publicly advocating peaceful resolution while allegedly violating the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro's response was widely described as halting; the session moderator intervened before he could finish, leaving an awkward scene on the floor. Chinese media framed the exchange as "exposing Manila's lies."
Shortly after the dialogue concluded, China's coast guard announced law enforcement patrols in waters east of Taiwan, explicitly linking the action to Japan and the Philippines advancing maritime boundary negotiations.
U.S.-Japan-Philippines Alignment vs. China's Solo Posture: No Sign of Easing Tensions
Against China's assertive interventions, the United States, Japan, and the Philippines presented a notably coordinated front.
Koizumi's address was among Tokyo's sharpest public responses to Beijing in recent years. He presented a new version of Japan's "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" framework, emphasizing that Japan would take on greater regional security responsibilities. He rejected accusations of "new militarism" and explicitly identified China's expanding nuclear arsenal as a threat to regional stability — a posture that reflects the accelerating pace of Japan's defense normalization under Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae (高市早苗).
The Philippines continued to seek multilateral backing on South China Sea disputes, despite the awkward exchange with China's delegation. Joint patrols and defense cooperation agreements with the United States, Japan, and Australia have become institutionalized, making them difficult to reverse regardless of individual diplomatic setbacks.
Washington's posture was more measured. Hegseth's emphasis on burden-sharing and alliance management — rather than direct confrontation with Beijing — reflected an attempt to manage competitive risks while preserving the bilateral stabilization achieved through the Trump-Xi summit.
Vietnamese General Secretary To Lam (蘇林) offered a contrasting keynote: pragmatic and non-aligned in tone, criticizing "might-makes-right" competition while stressing development and resilience. The posture illustrated the hedging strategy common across Southeast Asia, where China is the dominant trade partner and the United States remains the primary security guarantor.
Chinese Media as an Extension of Statecraft: The South China Sea as the Sharpest Flashpoint
Beyond the official delegation, Chinese state and state-affiliated media emerged as a significant secondary actor at this year's dialogue.
Multiple Chinese outlets published continuous coverage framing confrontations between Chinese journalists and foreign officials as acts of "defending national sovereignty." Videos of Chinese reporters pressing foreign delegates or rebutting critical remarks circulated widely on domestic platforms. On Chinese social media, some journalists were described by users as "diplomats on the conference floor."
The most widely circulated episode involved a Chinese journalist's exchange with Philippine Defense Secretary Teodoro. State-backed media reported that Teodoro "evaded questions," and the footage was amplified across official and semi-official channels.
The framing — journalists as frontline defenders rather than neutral observers — represents a documented shift in how Beijing deploys media as an instrument of strategic communication. Where Beijing once used senior officials to explain its positions to the world, it now increasingly frames its media presence in terms of contestation rather than communication.
On the South China Sea specifically, the gap between forum rhetoric and operational reality was on full display. Inside the conference hall, delegations discussed "strategic stability." Outside it, Chinese coast guard and military vessels continued patrols near Scarborough Shoal, which Beijing characterized as countermeasures against Philippine "provocations."
ASEAN as the Largest Bystander: Caught Between Two Powers
From Vietnam to Singapore, from Indonesia to Malaysia, most Southeast Asian governments sought to balance security cooperation with economic pragmatism. Nearly every major security issue on this year's agenda — the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, the East China Sea — was, at its core, a question about China's role in the regional order.
For ASEAN members, the dilemma is structural and unresolved. China accounts for the largest share of trade for most of the bloc's members. The United States remains the primary external security guarantor. Neither dependency can be easily shed, and the risk of being forced to choose is rising.
The dynamics at this year's Shangri-La Dialogue distilled that tension clearly. China's defense minister was absent — yet Beijing dominated the conversation. China's official posture was restrained — yet its delegation and media apparatus were combative. China has consistently resisted accepting rules it did not help write, yet it cannot afford to disengage from the forums those rules govern. （Related： When Candles Become Taboo: How Beijing Is Scrubbing the 1989 Massacre from Games and History ｜ Latest ）
It has sought to reduce its political investment in certain international platforms — yet it cannot afford to relinquish the influence those platforms generate.
