China will host its annual Beijing Xiangshan Forum this week, positioning the event as part of its wider diplomatic and strategic efforts while regional disputes remain heightened.
According to state media, around 1,800 participants from 100 countries – including officials, military officers and academics – will attend the three-day forum beginning Wednesday. The Chinese government is expected to highlight President Xi Jinping’s recent call for resistance against “hegemonism and power politics,” widely interpreted as a reference to the United States.
Foreign diplomats and analysts say the forum provides a rare opportunity to assess China’s military modernization and gain insights into the leadership structure of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). “We can be sure foreign participants at this year’s Xiangshan will try to extract more technical information about some of the weapon systems from their counterparts in the PLA,” said James Char, a security scholar at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
China showcased new weapons during its September 3 military parade, including hypersonic missiles, long-range nuclear systems and unmanned underwater drones. Analysts note uncertainty remains about their operational readiness. The event also follows a series of purges within the PLA, where more than a dozen generals, many once close to Xi, have been removed in the past two years.
The forum coincides with other regional flashpoints, including sea trials of China’s third aircraft carrier in the South China Sea and U.S.-Japanese exercises in Okinawa featuring the Typhon missile system. U.S. and Chinese officials also began trade talks in Madrid on Sunday.
Most Western states are sending lower-level delegations, maintaining the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore as their primary regional security venue. The U.S. will be represented by its defense attaché in Beijing, rather than a senior Pentagon official. In contrast, Singapore’s Defense Minister Chan Chun Sing and Malaysia’s Defense Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin confirmed their attendance. South Korea will send an official from the Korea National Defense University.
Chinese state media has listed delegations from Russia, France, Brazil, Nigeria, Singapore and Vietnam among those attending.