The annual Shangri-La Dialogue, which focuses on the security situation in the Asia-Pacific region, takes place in Singapore (Photo, Voice of America, LeBourg)
The U.S. Department of Defense announced that Defense Secretary Austin will attend the annual Shangri-La Security Dialogue in Singapore early next month. Like many of his predecessors in the past, Defense Secretary Austin is expected to use his appearance at the dialogue to demonstrate to countries in the Indo-Pacific region that the United States remains committed to peace and stability in the region and hopes to work with regional friends and partners to counter attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to subvert the international security order.
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken (right) and Defense Secretary Austin meet with Japan’s foreign minister and defense minister in Tokyo March 16, 2021 (Reuters)
For defense officials from the region and from countries in other parts of the world, attendance at the dialogue is also an opportunity to get to know U.S. Defense Secretary Austin, who only took office in January of this year.
Then-U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis attends an event at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 4, 2017 (Voice of America, Fort Le)
In a statement, the Pentagon said Austin is looking forward to his first visit to Southeast Asia June 4-5, including a speech at the dialogue titled “Advancing the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy” and bilateral and multilateral meetings with defense ministers from regional countries outside the main event.
Hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, the Shangri-La Security Dialogue has been held annually since 2002 and has grown to become the largest security forum in the Indo-Pacific region. Each year, the Dialogue attracts senior government officials and senior defense experts from the region and around the world. The organizers canceled last year’s Dialogue due to the New Crown (CCP virus) pandemic.
Chinese Communist Party military officials attend the Shangri-La Dialogue on June 2, 2017 (Photo by Fort Lai, Voice of America)
The Chinese Communist Party also sent its defense minister to lead a delegation to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in earlier years, but after the Communist Party began a major island-building and militarization campaign in the South China Sea that became a major topic of conversation at the annual Dialogue, Beijing rarely sends senior officials to the Dialogue anymore, sending only lower-ranking military academy officials to lead the delegation.
At the same time, the Communist Party’s military hosted the Xiangshan Forum in a separate venue. But in contrast to the Shangri-La Dialogue, this forum, which is widely seen as Beijing’s attempt to take control of the international defense discourse, has not received an enthusiastic international response.
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