Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe’s Time at Shangri-La

“It’s a great pleasure to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue again after three years.” Wei Fenghe, China’s state councilor and defense minister, delivered a speech on “China’s Vision for regional Order” on June 12 at the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue.
This is the first large-scale offline international dialogue since the Covid-19 outbreak. The remarks of China’s defense minister have attracted attention from all sides.Many people lined up outside the conference hall which could hold several hundred people before the meeting.
Those who could not attend the meeting due to the Covid-19 could watch the speech on a live streaming platform. As of June 15, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which held the Dialogue, showed that the video of Wei’s speech had been played 11,165 times, about twice as many as the video of Austin’s speech.
“China’s development is unstoppable,” Wei said, adding that China is rock-solid in its commitment to pursuing peaceful development.China’s development is not a threat to others. On the contrary, it is a huge contribution to global peace and development, the minister said.
After his speech, Wei answered two rounds of 11 questions in about 20 minutes. The questioners came from many countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, India. They asked about topics like the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, China’s nuclear forces, and Sino-Indian relations.
Wei stressed that “we build our military force not to claim hegemony but to follow the path of peaceful development.”

The “Taiwan issue” was the focus
Few days before the Dialogue, there were news that U.S. decided to sell arms to Taiwan once again, which stirred the sensitive nerves of both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Professor Tang Yonghong, deputy director of the Taiwan Studies Center at Xiamen University, told that although the US nominally adheres to the “one China policy”, it actually regards Taiwan as an independent political entity and establishes quasi-diplomatic relations with Taiwan through civilian society. There are even arms sales and military cooperation.
China has always opposed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. However, the US turned a deaf ear and released this provocative signal before the Dialogue, which undoubtedly foreshadowed future encounters.
On the afternoon of June 10, Wei walked slowly out of the meeting room accompanied by staff members after the first meeting with Austin.
The closed-door meeting, scheduled for 30 minutes, lasted about an hour, according to details released by the Pentagon. The two sides discussed “global and regional security” and “U.S. -China bilateral defense relations”, but “most of the time was devoted to Taiwan”.
This was the first face-to-face conversation between Wei and Austin. It seems that everything is all right but behind the scenes are the differences and quiet confrontations between China and the United States, which could not be ignored.
The press release issued by China’s Defence Ministry after the first talks used tough and strong words.
“The One-China principle is the political foundation of Sino-US relations.” During the talks, Wei stressed that China “firmly opposes and strongly condemns” the recent U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. “The Chinese government and military will resolutely crush any attempts for Taiwan independence and firmly safeguard the reunification of China,” he said.
In his keynote speech on June 12, Wei elaborated four issues, the first of which was the Taiwan issue. “If anyone dares to separate Taiwan, China will fight to the end regardless of the cost. China has only one choice.” he said, echoing China’s usual harsh language against pro-independence forces.
Hu Yishan, chief advisor of the Center for Pacific Studies in Malaysia, has went to the Shangri-La Dislogue for many times. Stuck by the Covid-19, he watched Wei’s speeches online this year. He told that the Wei’s speech was as “tough” as in 2019, which targeted at responding to the views of his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin.
Lieutenant General Zhang Zhenzhong, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of the CENTRAL Military Commission, also pointed out at a media briefing held on June 11 that Austin’s accusation of “frequent and unprofessional interception operations by the Chinese military” in his speech was completely inconsistent with the facts.
On the contrary, the recent egregious actions by the U.S. have seriously endangered China’s sovereignty and security interests.They sent wrong signals to the Taiwan separatist forces, and intensified tensions across the Taiwan Straits, which was extremely dangerous.
“The Taiwan issue is China’s internal affair, but the U.S. has been interfering in it for the sake of its hegemonic strategy and national interests.” Tang yonghong believes that the United States essentially regards Taiwan as a “pawn” in “controlling China with Taiwan”.

Enhance strategic mutual trust
properly manage differences
Wei had an intensive and quite busy trip during these days.
According to public reports, Wei participated in at least seven bilateral talks and one keynote speech. He talked with both Asian neighbors like Japan, South Korea, Singapore and South Pacific island countries such as Australia, New Zealand.
On the afternoon of June 9, Wei held talks with Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen. On the afternoon of June 10, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong met with Wei at his Presidential Palace.
In a speech on June 11, Indonesia’s Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto highlighted Asia’s history of being poisoned by imperialism and colonialism, and that China was “the vanguard of the anti-imperialist movement and had always been a good friend of Indonesia”.
Defense ministers of China and Australia had their first contact since January 2020. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) commented in an article that this marked that “the freeze in the Australian-Chinese diplomatic mechanism formally melted”.
Australia released a picture showing Wei holding a face-to-face meeting with Australian Defense Minister John Marles. In the group photo, the two smiled with their elbows touching.”This is a critical first step. ” In an interview, Marles claimed that the two ministers had a “frank and full talk”.
New Zealand’s Defense Minister Peeni Henare and Wei met as well. Henare said in an interview that “meeting with Chinese defnese minister was not a “coincidence” and that “open dialogue” was the key to manage security relations with China.
It is worth mentioning that Wei met with South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sub and Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi respectively during the Dialogue. Lee Jong-sub and Wei met for the first time since the November 2019 meeting in Bangkok. Nobuo Kishi and Wei also met fot the first time since the December 2019 in Beijing.
Zhao Xiaozhuo,a Chinese researcher, told that the Chinese defense minister met many people during the Shangri-La Dialogue, which could reflect China’s sincerity that we hope to make full use of the platform to strengthen communication and to increase trust and clear doubts.
Compared to Wei’s low-key and pragmatic trip, Austin’s trip was more high-profile.
Soon after his plane landed in Singapore, Austin updated his journey on social media, posting that he “looks forward to strengthening U.S. alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region”. During the Dialogue, he warmly interacted with many defense ministers and frequently updated his “circle of friends” on social media. There were both lively group photos and intimate “iron triangle” “double photo”.
“The U.S. talks a lot about lofty plans, such as Aukus, QUAD or other alliances, but will they really invest in these programs? Southeast Asian countries care more about what they do than ‘how they say’.” said Hu Yishan, chief advisor of the Center for Pacific Studies in Malaysia.

“Resolutely safeguard China’s national sovereignty”
China’s rising military power has been a hot pot of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a public opinion arena.
Zhang Chi, deputy director of the Department of National Security Strategy at the National Security College of the National Defense University, wrote in an article that China had always pursued a good-neighborly and friendly policy. Over the past few decades, some observers in the West have failed to predict conflicts between China and its neighbors over the East and South China Sea repeatedly.
The Dialogue was held at the height of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Europe. This has also become a backdrop for some countries to make malicious analogies and hype up the “regional threat theory”.
On the evening of June 10, at the opening ceremony, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida proposed in his speech an idea that “Ukraine today, East Asia tomorrow”, playing up the existence of a “security crisis” in the Asia-Pacific region. He proposed that Japan will provide maritime security equipment to Indo-Pacific countries in the next three years, including patrol vessels worth at least about $2 billion, as well as support for maritime transport facilities.
In his speech on the morning of June 11, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also pointed out that the Indo-Pacific region is a “priority area” of the US Department of Defense and they will “maintain an active presence in the Indo-Pacific region”.
“America’s deep involvement in Asia is directly related to its identity and interests.” Professor Jia Qingguo, director of Peking University’s Research Center for Sino-Foreign Cultural Exchanges, told that under the tension between China and the United States, the United States sees China’s economic and military rise as huge threats to their own interests in the region, which is why they pay much attention and get involved in the region than ever before.
In recent years, various forces have stirred up waters in the Indo-Pacific region. There have been repeated incidents of US fighter jets crashing into the sea and nuclear submarines crashing into mountains. At the Dialogue, countries like the United States and Japan made high-profile “military expansion” statement, which undoubtedly increased the uncertainty and anxiety.
In his keynote speech on June 12, Wei said that no matter what level of development China has reached, we would never pursue hegemony or claim hegemony, nor engage in military expansion or military competition. He stressed that China firmly committed to a “defensive national defense policy” and that the Chinese military would always be a division of peace.
Wei also elaborated China’s position on the South China Sea issue.
Wei said that with the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries, the situation in the South China Sea has become more stable and improved a lot. However, some major powers have long exercised “navigation hegemony” in the name of “navigation freedom”, sending ships and planes to rampage in the South China Sea and flexing their muscles. He said that countries in the region were neighbors that could not be moved away, and they must jointly guard against and stop countries outside the region from interfering and disrupting the South China Sea.
Lieutenant General Zhang Zhenzhong, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of the CENTRAL Military Commission (CMC), said, “The United States talks about rules and order, but actually treats international rules as ‘playthings’” and is “trying to dominate and control the world with its own ‘family rules and regulations’”.
Zhao Xiaozhuo said that the indo-Pacific strategy of U.S. is advancing in a “deeper and more detailed way” in recent years. Through various agreements and pacts, the United States has created a closed and overlapping “circle” in the Indo-Pacific region, with the intention of forming an alliance network in Inodo-Pacific region like NATO in Europe, whose purpose is self-evident.
“But whether or not the net could be formed is not up to the United States.” Zhao xiaozhuo said.

Translator | Ada Du