Official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the People’s Republic of China Wu Qian

The Shangri-La Dialogue:

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his Chinese counterpart behind closed doors for more than an hour Friday, as the two countries seek to repair lines of communication between their militaries that could be critical as tensions continue to rise between the two in the Indo-Pacific region.  This was the first time since 2022 that top defense officials met, as China cut lines of communication after Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, infuriating Beijing.

It came on the sidelines of the Shangri-La defense forum, Asia’s premier security conference, which features defense officials, government leaders and diplomats from around the world.

Nothing looked serious to me at this Dialogue.  It looked like a gathering of chest-thumpers.  This comment by the Chinese Defense Ministry representative had the most value.

🇨🇳 🇷🇺 The Chinese army is ready, together with the Russian army, to defend justice in the world – Chinese Defense Ministry

🔶️ “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is ready to strengthen strategic ties with the Russian Armed Forces and work together to defend the international justice.” – says the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the People’s Republic of China, Wu Qian.

🔶️ “China’s Armed Forces are willing to work together with the Russian Armed Forces to fully implement the important consensus reached by the heads of the two countries to further strengthen strategic communications and coordination, deepen mutual trust in the military field and jointly implement the Global Security Initiative,” he said.

🔶️ According to the representative of the Chinese military department, PLA military personnel are ready, together with their Russian colleagues, to “defend international justice and impartiality”, and also make every effort to ensure international and regional security.

📎 Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China

This is the message from the Chinese at the Shangri-La Dialogue.