BEIJING - Defense officials and scholars from China and ASEAN member countries will gather in Beijing on Monday to discuss strengthening defense and security ties.

The second-round China-ASEAN dialogue meeting on defense and security, scheduled to conclude on Wednesday, will include discussions on the security environment in the Asia-Pacific in the context of the global financial crisis, ASEAN's security mechanism and defense cooperation with China, and non-traditional security cooperation between China and ASEAN, according to people familiar with the meeting.

Since last March, the meeting has been upgraded to include defense officials from the two sides.

Previous meetings only involved senior defense and security scholars from China and ASEAN, said Liu Lin, a researcher with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Military Science, which was involved in organizing the meeting.

The combination of scholars and officials could lead to more flexibility on policy discussion, according to Liu.

Luo Yuan, a researcher with the PLA Academy of Military Science, said military exchanges are a sensitive area, and their success requires considerable diplomatic efforts.

"The situation in the area near China has not been quite calm this year, which makes it necessary to strengthen dialogue with other countries to boost trust and reduce suspicion," Luo said.

A major source of recent tension has been the South China Sea, part of which is claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

The meeting, in this regard, could also offer opportunities for related parties to discuss the issue, experts said.

Malaysia's Defense Ministry said in a statement that Malaysia considered China's agreement and participation in the implementation of the Declaration of Conduct (DOC) as an important contribution toward the resolution of the South China Sea issue.

"We should work toward strengthening the mechanisms and architecture for (an) amicable solution to alleviate any untoward incidents," the statement said.

The ministry noted that China's decision to organize a workshop on navigational freedom and safety this week in Haikou, Hainan province, was part of the mechanism for implementing the DOC.

It said that in line with these developments, it may not be necessary for outside powers to become involved in the South China Sea dispute as ASEAN and China had their own mechanism to jointly address the issues.

Besides its security dialogue with ASEAN, analysts noted that China has frequently held defense and security talks with other regional players, including annual defense consultative talks with the United States last week, and the fourth round of its defense dialogue with India last Friday, after a freeze of nearly two years.

These meetings signaled that many issues should be addressed within regional or bilateral frameworks instead of inviting external parties, said Guo Xiangang, vice-president of China Institute of International Studies.

Li Xiaokun and Qin Zhongwei contributed to this story.