The Shangri-La Dialogue is normally an annual conference held in Singapore. It is meant to bring together countries in the region to discuss the critical security issues that challenge the region’s cohesiveness, peace and stability.
This year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will give the keynote address. It will be followed by China’s minister of national defense, Wei Fenghe, from the People’s Liberation Army and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Kishida and Wei will portray two very different Indo-Pacific regions. Wei will stress that the Indo-Pacific region is a geopolitical concept designed by the U.S. and the West to contain China’s rise. He will underscore that the Asia-Pacific region (China does not accept the Indo-Pacific framing) has been destabilized by a cold war mentality, small cliques of nations forming alliances targeted at China and efforts by undisclosed countries (read the U.S. and Japan) challenging Beijing’s One-China policy.