BEIJING: Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun is set to skip the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore for the second year in a row, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Instead, China will send a lower-level People’s Liberation Army (PLA) delegation to Asia’s premier defence forum which will open on Friday (May 29) and continue until Sunday, the sources said.

This year marks the 23rd edition of the Shangri-La Dialogue, which brings together defence ministers, military chiefs, diplomats and analysts to debate regional security challenges and hold bilateral meetings.

China’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment and has yet to announce its delegation for this year’s forum.

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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to deliver a speech covering Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Saturday.

The forum has long been regarded as a platform for Beijing to articulate its security positions and respond to concerns from other countries, particularly amid continued tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

Discussions during the dialogue are also expected to touch on the United States and Israel’s military operation against Iran, now in its third month, although the forum’s agenda remains primarily focused on regional security issues.

Dong’s absence would mark the second consecutive year that China’s defence minister has skipped the event, breaking with a three-year streak of ministerial attendance before that.

Last year, the Chinese delegation was led by Hu Gangfeng, a PLA major general and vice-president of the National Defence University. It remains unclear who will lead China’s delegation this year and it is still possible that Dong could attend.

In recent years, Chinese defence ministers have faced mounting pressure at the forum over Beijing’s increasingly assertive military activities in the region.

At last year’s dialogue, Hegseth accused China of seeking to “fundamentally alter the region’s status quo”, remarks that Hu dismissed as “groundless” and aimed at inciting confrontation.

Dong’s attendance at the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2024 marked his first major international appearance since becoming defence minister in late 2023.

He replaced Li Shangfu, who was then placed under investigation amid the country’s anti-corruption efforts in the military. China announced earlier this month that Li received a suspended death sentence after being found guilty of corruption.

Dong’s absence would also mean a potential meeting between the Chinese and US defence chiefs may not take place on the sidelines of this year’s forum, as such talks typically occur when both sides attend, such as in 2024.

Hegseth travelled to Beijing with US President Donald Trump earlier this month, where he was seen briefly exchanging remarks with Dong.

Also during the summit, which was aimed at stabilising bilateral ties, President Xi Jinping told Trump that the two countries should make good use of military communication channels.

China’s defence ministry later said it was willing to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and to “strengthen communication and dialogue” with Washington.

During his meeting with Trump, Xi also said Taiwan remained the most important issue in bilateral relations and warned Washington to handle the matter with the “utmost caution”.

The Taiwan issue is expected to be among the key topics at this year’s dialogue.

Beijing has sent military aircraft near the island on an almost daily basis in recent years and has conducted four large-scale military exercises since William Lai Ching-te took office in May 2024.

The forum also comes amid continued tensions in the South China Sea, where Beijing has overlapping territorial claims with several Southeast Asian nations. Tensions with Manila, marked by repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels, have been particularly high.

Vietnamese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at this year’s dialogue on Friday.

This article was first published on SCMP.