IRIA News

High-level military officials, defense ministers, diplomats, security analysts, and arms makers from around the world gathered in Singapore from June 2 to 4, 2023, to participate in the Shangri-La Dialogue, one of the largest security summits in Asia.

The 20th Shangri-La Dialogue, organized by a leading think tank International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), attracted several European and Asian delegates to Singapore where they discussed security-related issues affecting Asia and beyond. The media spotlight remained focused on Sino-U.S. military diplomacy during the event.

Who attended the summit?

The guest list included Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who delivered the keynote address, while the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State for Defense of the United Kingdom Ben Wallace, and Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu also attended the summit. Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius were also present during the four-day summit.

On the opening day of the summit, Australian Prime Minister Albanese delivered his keynote speech where he highlighted the region’s top security issues. Albanese urged China to reopen high-level communication channels with the United States and pushed the two countries to establish “guardrails” to avoid a catastrophic conflict.

Albanese’s speech comes at a time when Australia-China relations are suffering from a diplomatic freeze. The three-year diplomatic stagnation between the two countries and Australia’s tilt toward the Western allies has affected the trade between Beijing and Canberra.

The U.S.-China tensions

At the opening session, the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin walked up to his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu for a  handshake before sitting opposite to him on the VIP table as the Australian Prime Minister delivered his speech.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on Li Shangfu in September 2019 when the Trump administration targeted him for being “involved” in weapons transactions with Russia.

While speaking at the dialogue, Li took digs at the U.S. as he repeated China’s grievances regarding the intensification of the arms race in the region and the U.S.’s interference in the region’s internal affairs. “A cold war mentality is now resurgent, greatly increasing security risks,” he said. “Mutual respect should prevail over bullying and hegemony.”

Li, who is a general of China’s People’s Republic Army, made it clear that China would not tolerate any attempts at Taiwan’s independence, internally or externally. Li questioned the activities of the U.S. naval vessels saying that the U.S. military does not belong in the regions near China and Taiwan. He said that China does not have any problem with the freedom of navigation, but “we must prevent attempts that try to use that freedom of navigation [patrols], that innocent passage, to exercise hegemony of navigation”.

Apart from giving a detailed speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Li also met with the EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, and Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov marking his first contacts with European counterparts since his promotion this year. Despite Washington’s attempt to arrange a bilateral meeting between Li and Austin on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, the interaction between the two defense chiefs did not go beyond a handshake.

The U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke at the summit highlighting the security issues of the Indo-Pacific region from the U.S.’s standpoint. “Conflict is neither imminent nor inevitable. Deterrence is strong today, and it’s our job to keep it that way,” he said during his opening remarks.

Austin was quick to bring the conversation to the summit’s hot topic regarding Taiwan saying that the “conflict in the Taiwan Strait would be devastating.” He added that a “Conflict in the Taiwan Strait would affect the global economy in ways we cannot imagine.”

Shadows of the Ukraine War

Although a major share of the summit was focused on discussing the security issues of Asia and the Indo-Pacific region in particular, European participants repeatedly brought up the Russian invasion of Ukraine in their talks, relating it to the ongoing security situation in Asia.

While speaking at the dialogue, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stressed the need to stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that European and Indo-Pacific partners “must defend the rules-based international order, no matter where it is challenged.”

British Defense Minister Ben Wallace also urged Asian partners to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia. “The best thing we can do to help Ukraine is now to help them defeat Russia,” Wallace said in an interview. “After that is to make sure they’re ready and capable and resilient.”

During his meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Reznikov, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu extended an offer to use “all means” of outreach possible to try to end Russia’s war, while also pledging to expand military communications with Kyiv.