Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun both delivered speeches at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual international security conference held in Singapore – one of the rare meetings that brings senior officials from rival militaries in close proximity to each other through panel discussions, dinner and cocktail hours at a hotel. luxury. Austin and Dong also met on the sidelines of the summit on Friday, their first meeting in two years.
Competing rhetoric over the weekend's discussions – most of which pointed to recent events, such as China's spate of large-scale military maneuvers around Taiwan less than two weeks ago – highlighted the sense that regional tensions are becoming increasingly agitated.
The dialogue also allowed the two powers to make their arguments before an international audience of their peers, including defense officials from South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia and others – themselves targets of US and Chinese influence campaigns. Often uncomfortable spectators to the global strategic power struggle.
Both Austin and Dong appealed for shared values and respect for international law, without mentioning the other country by name, at a conference centered almost entirely on the relationship between the United States and China.
In his address to the conference on Saturday, Austin emphasized the United States' broad and expanding network of security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region, a clear warning to Beijing, observers said, that further Chinese military aggression in the region could trigger an American response.
“We are working with our allies and partners like never before,” Austin said, noting that the United States “recently secured a series of historic agreements with our allies and partners to transform our power posture throughout the Indo-Pacific region.”
He added that American, Japanese and South Korean forces are training together in “unprecedented” ways. The United States and the Philippines, along with Australia and France, recently completed the largest annual joint naval exercise in Balikatan. The United States has also established new levels of defense cooperation with Australia, Japan, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines.
Austin added that this was “just a starting point.” “We are on the cusp of more robust changes” in the posture of American power in the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
Dong's remarks on Sunday largely mirrored Austin's rhetoric but flipped claims of respect for the international order and claims of unlawful aggression to shift blame onto Washington, its allies and partners. Dong said that China is committed to peace and has exercised tremendous “restraint” in the Asia-Pacific region, referring to the United States – without naming it – as a sinister outside party seeking to influence the affairs of the region in which it lives. Does not belong.
Dong said China also has extensive strategic partnerships around the world, as well as the ability and desire to arm and train other countries in the region. “We have a well-established system of military education, and we are ready to provide greater support to other countries in training personnel and offering courses tailored to meet different needs,” he said.
In remarks that closely aligned with Beijing's usual talking points, Dong described China's aspirations to live in a “multipolar world” — as opposed to one dominated by the United States — and appealed to the rest of the region for “unique Asian wisdom” and shared experience. “Imperialism” from external powers.
He said China's disputes with Taiwan and in the South China Sea are regional issues that are best resolved between countries in the region, rather than by outside parties — again, without referring to the United States.
“Anyone who dares to separate Taiwan from China will only destroy themselves,” Dong warned.
A subtle regional shift – against China
The growing frustration felt by many of China's regional neighbors over Chinese intimidation at sea, as well as criminal and cyber threats posed by Chinese state-owned enterprises, was also evident over the weekend, as academics and representatives of other Asian countries moved closer and rejected the U.S. In recent months Dong's allegations have accused China of dishonesty.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his opening remarks on Friday evening, put forth what many interpreted as a warning to China, referring to its “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive actions” that undermine territorial security in territorial waters claimed by the Philippines. – in a possible reference to intensified aggression by the Chinese coast guard and maritime militia that have regularly blocked the passage of Philippine ships near the disputed islands in recent months.
Marcos's comments illustrate the sharp pivot the Philippine government has taken in the past two years, aligning itself more closely with Washington and bucking the previous administration's more deferential approach toward China. Marcos said any “deliberate” action that led to the deaths of Filipinos during the standoff with China would be considered an “act of war,” triggering a US military response under the two countries' mutual defense treaty.
Others also raised objections.
During a question-and-answer session following Dong's speech on Sunday, Chung Min Lee, an expert on Korean security and Northeast Asia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, sharply addressed the minister, pointing out the contradictions between Dong's claims about peace and cooperation. From the platform and state-backed cyberattacks against China's neighbors, its support for North Korea's dictatorship and the Coast Guard's threatening behaviors in disputed waters.
“How can we trust you when your work and actions are so contradictory?” Lee asked, drawing applause from the group's audience.
Meanwhile, when a Chinese military officer and academic at the China Institute of War Studies, Colonel Cao Yanzhong, suggested on Saturday that NATO's expansion in Europe “led to the Ukrainian crisis,” Austin received applause when he said he “respectfully” disagreed. This claim.
“I thought it was remarkable that there was spontaneous, widespread applause,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who attended the conference after meeting with officials in Taiwan and the Philippines. The idea that the United States and NATO sparked the war in Ukraine is “a narrative I hear a lot in the global South,” he said.
Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), another member of the Senate delegation to Singapore, told reporters that the United States has been able to expand its strategic alliances in the Indo-Pacific region “largely because of China's aggression.”
Bilahari Kausikan, former ambassador at large for the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in an interview that for small countries in Southeast Asia, China represents an inescapable “geopolitical reality.” There is also a growing, if often unspoken, acceptance that the United States is also “an irreplaceable part of the security balance,” Bilahari said. This does not constitute a success for American policy as much as it constitutes a failure for Chinese policy.”
Even as some Asian officials endured stronger public opposition to China than in previous years, many were careful not to overdo their criticism.
Wang Dong, a researcher at Peking University and a member of the Chinese delegation to Singapore, noted that no official in any other country has made statements as strong as Marcos's, saying: “The lack of popular support for Marcos' position speaks volumes about what other countries in the region see as a pragmatic approach.”
Dewi Fortuna Anwar, an Indonesian academic, expressed concern during a question-and-answer session about whether the twists and turns in the US-China relationship could lead to the rest of the region being “trampled.” Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen stressed that the region found Washington and Beijing's stated aversion to conflict “reassuring,” but also said that “most of us here agree that the United States and China are the dominant factors in determining Asia's fate in this decade and beyond.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who arrived late to the conference on Sunday, also circumnavigated China, criticizing its alleged arms support for Russia, but also imploring Beijing to participate in the upcoming Ukrainian peace summit in Switzerland.
“We need the support of Asian countries,” Zelensky said during a press conference. “We respect every voice and every region. …We want Asia to know what is going on in Ukraine.”
revision
A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to South Korean analyst Chung Min Lee. His last name is Lee. The article has been corrected.
