Shangri-La Dialogue 2023: The heat was on

I have not seen such a major body of work, comments, analysis, and sheer volume generated on this Dialogue before now.  In addition and despite being used to it, I remain absolutely gobsmacked at the lies coming from the West. 

For China, this was the first major appearance of their new State Councilor and Minister of National Defense, Li Shangfu.  The Shanri-La Dialogue up to now has been a Western discussion, with some appearances by selected vassals.  This time, they were intent on pushing points of Freedom of Navigation, containment of China and moving NATO into the Asia-Pacific.  To say it mildly, they had headwinds.  The most exciting was the Western Howling about China’s warship buzzing the USS Chung-Hoon, a US destroyer.  The US and Canada felt that at the time of this conference, they should project some power and did a sail-by, transiting the Taiwan Straight.  The Chinese vessel came with 150 yards (and sometimes expressed in meters) of USS Chung-Hoon.  This led to a spate of accusations that China is prohibiting freedom of navigation and coming “dangerously close” to its destroyer.

The Chinese Defense Ministry was quick!  and said it will prevent any attempts to use freedom of navigation in the Strait as an opportunity to exercise “hegemony of navigation“.

Nat South of all things moving in the ocean and in the skies fame, put it into perspective.   “150m and they’re all over the town over that?”

“In which universe is that “dangerously close”, quips Arnaud Bertraud continuing to say “.. The US cannot be claiming “freedom of navigation” for its warships in the Taiwan strait and at the same time deny the same right to the Chinese navy….”

A small segue: What is this Freedom of Navigation?  A Chinese scholar on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) explained that the US’s Freedom of Navigation is not in reality what International Law prescribes.  In fact, Freedom of Navigation is meant for merchants, not for vessels of war.   Freedom of Navigation” Claimed by U.S. is NOT “Freedom of Navigation” under International Law. The way the US wants to implement this, is as a result of one of their own long-arm laws, claiming jurisdiction over the whole planet.

In the run-up to the dialogue, we saw as usual a spate of Anti-China articles in the Western Press. Let’s leave them right there because open and belligerent gaslighting does not merit any other treatment.

The conference started with belligerence and claiming ownership and a new emerging QUAD containing Australia, Japan, Philippines, and US. It’ll be more openly anti-China. Unlike the original Quad which features India instead of the Philippines, all members of the new arrangement are security allies of the US.

Cui Tiankai, the highly respected former ambassador of China to the United States responded:

ASEAN Centrality is one of the most important principles in regional cooperation in Asia-Pacific.
ASEAN countries attach great importance to that
We in China also attach great importance to that.

The US also talks about liking this idea. But watch what they are doing:
There is no ASEAN in QUAD
There is no ASEAN in AUKUS
So where is the central role of ASEAN?
We can only see the absence of ASEAN.

China continued to tell the unvarnished truth!

#China‘s senior military expert: “During the past 40 years, the #US and #NATO caused a series of conflicts, turmoil, and even wars in the #MiddleEast and #Europe, resulting in severe humanitarian crises and disasters. We have reasons to be concerned that the US-led NATO… pic.twitter.com/pmdb8jajvU

— Frontline (@Frontlinestory) June 3, 2023

This complete dialogue, excluding the Chinese presentations and even before we get to State Councilor and Minister of National Defense, Li Shangfu’s speech, lends itself to The Onion type journalism. They did indeed do it, saying: SINGAPORE—Insisting that he didn’t know how they had made such a simple mistake, an embarrassed U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reportedly excused himself from the Shangri-La Dialogue Asian defense summit Friday after realizing America was not in Asia. “Oh God, sorry about that, we’re not even in the right ballpark here,” said the Defense Secretary, who reportedly grew visibly flushed after learning from an aide that the closest part of the Asian continent was nearly 5,000 miles away from the United States, before slowly slinking out of the gathering of allied nations. Note, this is The Onion and did not really happen.

Li Shgangu’s objective was to introduce China’s Global Security Initiative.  He based his address on Chinese values. He was mild-mannered while introducing China’s security concept to those that are deaf to it, but he did not leave any ‘strategic ambiguity’ and made it very clear that China is not scared of US or NATO adventurism and will resist.

In a nutshell:

SINGAPORE, June 4 — Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister General Li Shangfu delivered a speech on “China’s New Security Initiative” at the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue on June 4.

General Li pointed out that President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Security Initiative, advocated the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and contributed China’s wisdom to addressing international security challenges. China has successfully embarked on the Chinese-style modernization path, injecting strong impetus to common development, making important contribution to maintaining world peace, and playing a positive role in improving global governance. China is ready to work with all parties to strengthen the awareness of an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future, promote the sound development of regional security cooperation, and try best to build an open, inclusive, transparent and equal regional security cooperation architecture, stated the defense minister.

General Li stressed that Taiwan is China’s Taiwan. How to solve the Taiwan question is Chinese people’s own business, which brooks no foreign interference. The authorities of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) seek independence by colluding with foreign forces and some external forces use Taiwan to contain China. They are the biggest troublemakers in changing the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

“If anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will resolutely safeguard China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity without any hesitation, at all cost, and not fearing any opponent,” reiterated the defense minister.

The Chinese Military personnel around  Li Shangfu, hammered in this message.

The Chinese delegation on Saturday rejected U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s unfounded accusations against China at the Shangri-La Dialogue, saying “leadership” does not imply hegemony, status is determined by acts, and actions speak louder than words.  Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department of China’s Central Military Commission, told a press conference that by peddling the so-called “Indo-Pacific strategy,” Washington is attempting to maintain its hegemony.  The general stated that the Taiwan question bears on China’s core interests and no compromise or concession is tolerated. The People’s Liberation Army is ready to fight at any time.

We don’t have a formal transcript but many people noted down the most important:

Chinese Minister of National Defense General Li Shangfu addresses the Shangrila Dialogue on day two.  He mentions China’s Global Security Initiative right off the bat.

Li says we need to ask who is disrupting peace and stability. Mutual respect should prevail over bullying. Where hegemonism and power politics exist, there will be instability.

Fairness and justice should transcend the law of the jungle. internal affairs should not be dictated by one or a few countries. China practices multilateralism and win-win solutions, some countries force their own rules on others and attempt to constrain others to conventions it has not conceded to itself.

China proposes eliminating conflict and confrontation through trust and consultation, not by adding fuel to the fire.

China proposes preventing block confrontation with openness and inclusiveness. NATO-like military alliances will only lead to conflicts.

China advocates peaceful development for the common good/development for all. In a peaceful way. China’s contribution to global economic growth is significant. China and ASEAN are each other’s biggest trading powers. BRI is a well-received contribution to international public goods.

Chinese modernization has contributed significantly to safeguarding world peace. Peaceful development is enshrined in China’s constitution. China sent naval vessels to protect foreign ships, helping to evacuate Chinese and foreign citizens. China has contributed to peacekeeping and over 50K peacekeepers are deployed which is the largest contributor to peacekeeping operations.

Taiwan is the core of China’s core interests, it is an internal matter, and how to resolve is a Chinese matter. The One China principle is universally recognized. Taiwan should be restored to China. Who is undermining stability across the TW strait? The DPP and some big power selling arms and upgrading official engagement. The root cause of tensions is the DPP and foreign forces attempting to interfere. Foreign interference will end up in failure. Taiwan’s question arose out of Chinese weakness and will be resolved as part of China’s rejuvenation.

The situation in SCS is relatively stable. The trend is toward greater stability and should not be disrupted. Some countries outside the region exercise hegemony in the name of freedom of navigation. This should be rejected. People in this region treat each other like brothers and sisters but some countries outside the region sow discord and fan the flame.

US-China relations bear on global strategic stability. China and US should live up to the expectations of the world. The US needs to be sincere and take concrete actions to achieve stability and prevent further deterioration. US-China relations are at a record low. Everyone knows the cause. The world is big enough for US and China to grow together. Biden and Xi in November in Bali reached a consensus. We need to navigate the relationship back to the right track.

Regarding maritime issues, we must observe UNCLOS. That is a must. FON and innocent passage are not a problem but we need to prevent attempts to use FON to exercise hegemony. I see a lot of information about foreign vessels/jets coming near our territory. That is not aimed at innocent passage. In order to observe UNCLOS, we need to abide by the codes stipulated in the convention.

Why did all those incidents happen in areas near China? Because foreign vessels/fighter jets are operating close to Chinese territory. The best way is for other countries not to do close-in actions around China’s territory. Mind your own business. Take good care of your own vessels and fighter jets, your own terrific airspace, and waters. If that is the case, there won’t be any problems.

On interactions between China and US, China is open to communication between our two militaries. So far we have smooth communications and channels at different levels. But China has its own principles of communication. Mutual respect is a fundamental principle. If we do not have mutual respect, then we will not be able to communicate effectively.

In reality, Li Shangfu threw down the proverbial glove.  He put down the gauntlet saying exactly what China will be doing, and anyone that wants to disturb that will be picking up China’s gauntlet.  He and his senior staff unmasked the lies and acted in the main as civilized people.  The barbarians will keep rattling at the gate and may walk into China’s gauntlet.

Many aspects of this conference were not touched on.  It is difficult to split some real fact from the absolute gibberish that was spoken at the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue.  Scholz was a case in point and for the life of me, I have no idea what he actually said.  Federal Chancellor, they tell me.  An unhinged Snake Oil Salesman is much more appropriate.

More press:

Highlights of Chinese Defense Minister’s remarks at the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue  

China presents path to true, sustainable security for Asia-Pacific in contrast to US’ bloc confrontation approach at Shangri-La Dialogue

China expounds security initiative, warns against instability in Asia-Pacific at Shangri-La Dialogue

He Lei on Chinese Defense Minister’s speech at Shangri-La Dialogue： successful, magnificent

Chinese general hits out at US defense secretary over Taiwan

“Leadership” does not imply hegemony, Chinese delegation says at Shangri-La Dialogue

 Needless to say, everybody is happy, excepting the west.