China to lend its voice for global peace

A delegation from China's People's Liberation Army National Defense University is attending the high-end Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, dubbed as the Asia Security Summit, a move meant to help build security consensus and maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific amid the current unstable global situation.

Upon invitation, a delegation from the PLA National Defense University is attending the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue in the Southeast Asian country from Thursday to Monday and will visit some of the facilities of the Singapore Armed Forces, Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesman for China's Ministry of National Defense, announced in Beijing on Thursday.

"China has always actively participated in various constructive platforms to explain its concepts and initiatives, communicate and exchange with all parties, build trust, dispel doubts, deepen cooperation and contribute wisdom to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity," he said.

"This time, the delegation from the PLA National Defense University will engage in in-depth exchanges with all parties to effectively build consensus," Zhang added.

The Shangri-La Dialogue is a premier security summit in the Asia-Pacific region. It attracts leaders and representatives of governments and defense departments from multiple countries and regions every year.

Qi Dapeng, a professor at the NDU and a member of the delegation, said that the NDU delegation is attending to promote communication and cooperation, build trust, dispel doubts and contribute to regional peace.

"We will continue to uphold the principles of openness and inclusiveness, strengthen exchanges with all participating parties, resolve differences, build consensus and contribute to the construction of a community with a shared future in the Asia-Pacific region," he said.

Zhang Junshe, a former researcher at the PLA's Naval Research Academy, said that in today's world, upheaval and disorder intertwine and unilateralism and power politics are on the rise. He noted that the delegation from China, as a key force for world peace and stability, will undoubtedly help serve as a stabilizing force by attending the Shangri-La Dialogue and lending its voice.

"China's three major global initiatives and the concept of a community with a shared future for humanity have gained widespread recognition from many countries worldwide, so China's participation also meets the expectations of the international community," he said.

The three global initiatives proposed by China are the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative.

The expert said that the Chinese delegation is expected to express its views on the major security challenges facing the region and the world.

Additionally, the delegation is expected to call for the maintenance of multilateralism and oppose hegemonism, he said, noting that it will also call for enhanced cooperation to jointly promote regional and global development and prosperity.

According to the outline agenda currently released by the organizer, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in the United Kingdom, this year's Shangri-La Dialogue will run from Friday to Sunday and includes an opening dinner, more than five plenary sessions and several simultaneous special sessions.

These sessions will focus on a wide range of Asia-Pacific and global security issues, including ensuring stability in a competitive world, managing proliferation risks in the Asia-Pacific and tackling cyber, undersea and outer-space defense challenges.

According to the IISS website, French President Emmanuel Macron and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will deliver keynote speeches at the summit.

In addition, the United States Department of Defense on Tuesday announced in a news release that the US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will also attend this year's conference to deliver remarks.

The release stressed that Hegseth's trip came as the US continues to strengthen its relationships with allies and partners in support of a shared regional vision for peace, stability and "deterrence".

Zhang, the former PLA researcher, said that seeking peace and development is the mainstream voice and common expectation of countries in the Asia Pacific region.

"Therefore, if the US continues to provoke bloc confrontations in this region, it will not win people's support and will not succeed," he said.

When asked if there's any bilateral meeting planned between the Chinese and US delegations in Singapore, Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said that China is open to bilateral dialogue with the US. He also expressed hopes that the US will genuinely respect China's core interests and work toward the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations.