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On October 14, China and the United States announced that Foreign Minister Wang would visit the United States from October 26 to 28, and it was widely believed that the visit would likely lead to a long-awaited meeting between the leaders of China and the United States at the APEC summit in a month's time.
Less than 24 hours after announcing Foreign Minister Wang's visit to the United States, the US Department of Defense announced that Carles, senior director for China affairs in the Office of the US Deputy Secretary of Defense, would attend the 10 th Beijing Xiangshan Forum as head of the US delegation, and former deputy assistant secretary of defense Shi Cande would also attend the relevant activities as an expert and scholar.
Beijing Xiangshan Forum
Founded in 2006, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum has developed into one of the world's most important platforms for security dialogue.
Highlight 1: As of the 23rd, official delegations from more than 90 countries and international organizations have confirmed their participation, and the scale of this forum is likely to reach a record high.
Among them, 22 representatives at or above the level of defense minister, 14 representatives at the level of general commander of the armed forces, and more than 200 experts from more than 50 countries and regions signed up to attend the meeting.
The meeting will also be attended by the leaders of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Secretaries-General of the League of Arab States and the CICA, as well as representatives of the SCO, ASEAN, the European Union, NATO and other international and regional organizations.
As the date of the meeting approaches, other countries have joined one after another, such as the United States announced its participation on the 24th, and on the 25th, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense announced that South Korean Deputy Defense Minister Kim Sun-ho will attend the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum.
The participation of the United States will definitely allow more American brothers to follow the participation, so it is certain that the scale of this forum will hit a record high.
On the 24th, the Voice of Vietnam Radio reported that the level and number of participants at this year's Beijing Xiangshan Forum will reach a record high, especially the participation of international and regional organizations and developing countries has increased significantly.
Highlight 2: In addition to the conference, this forum will also hold special seminars such as "Sun Tzu's Art of War Seminar", "Seminar on Chinese and Foreign Young Officers and Scholars", "Dialogue between Chinese and Foreign Famous Scholars", and arrange special visits.
These activities are more people-friendly, which is conducive to increasing the sense of participation and integration of the participants, expanding the breadth and depth of the forum discussions, promoting full consultation and resolving differences between countries on defense and security issues, and contributing to the promotion of world peace and stability.
What the meeting talked about
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative and the 10th anniversary of the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Therefore, it is fitting that the theme of this forum is "common security and lasting peace", and the conference may have three main contents.
First, it is necessary to discuss and resolve regional security issues.
The Indo-Pacific region has important international trade routes such as the Strait of Malacca, the Suez Canal, the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, as well as abundant natural gas, oil and other energy resources, and the transportation of energy, raw materials and goods to and from all over the world is carried out along these sea routes.
Terrorism, as well as piracy and armed robbery, pose a potential threat to these routes, potentially increasing transportation costs, causing delays, and creating supply shortages.
Therefore, the fight against terrorism and piracy must be one of the contents of the discussion on regional security issues at the Xiangshan Forum.
At the same time, the frequent occurrence of natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region, the environmental problems caused by climate warming, and the environmental pollution caused by human factors such as the discharge of nuclear sewage into the sea in Japan are becoming more and more serious.
In recent years, telecom fraud and cyber scams in Southeast Asia have not only harmed Chinese, but also citizens in neighboring countries such as Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and India.
The second is to discuss the current war in Ukraine and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In fact, the war in Ukraine has entered a stage of strategic stalemate, and Russia, the United States and the West do not have much energy to invest in it anymore, and there is already soil for negotiations.
Russia is certain to withdraw its troops, and what needs to be discussed is the division of interests after the war, such as war reparations, territorial division, and whether NATO and the European Union will expand again.
Compared with the war in Ukraine, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict does not yet have the conditions for negotiation, but the whole world is worried about the outbreak of the sixth Middle East war, so this Xiangshan Forum will definitely discuss how to avoid a large-scale war, and the United States invited Foreign Minister Wang to visit the United States to discuss this matter.
Third, we should consider the issue of strategic stability and a multipolar arms control system from a long-term perspective.
The Cold War era was dominated by the two polar powers of the Soviet Union and the United States, and arms control negotiations were mainly focused on limiting the nuclear arsenals of the two superpowers, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world has begun to enter multipolarity.
At the same time, there is a growing number of nuclear-armed states, with India, Pakistan, Israel, Iran and North Korea all having strong nuclear capabilities, and some non-nuclear states continue to pursue nuclear weapons, further jeopardizing the global security situation.
To that end, we must establish multipolar arms control mechanisms to ensure that all nuclear-weapon States are able to participate in such agreements, to prevent an accidental escalation of conflicts, and to prevent the entire world from returning to the Stone Age.
However, the final effect of the discussion may still be limited, and although the United States decided to participate, he came with pride.
Reuters previously reported that China originally invited U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin to participate in the forum, but the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement that it would only send people to the forum at the same level as before.
We know that for some time now, the United States has been shouting at the Chinese side, complaining that the Chinese military's phone calls are not answered, and hoping to restart the U.S.-China military dialogue.
However, the fact that the Chinese side has taken the initiative to hand over an "olive branch" while the United States is still trying to put on a show is enough to show that the US side is only shouting loudly about the resumption of Sino-US military dialogue, but in fact it is not so eager at all, and it may just be an excuse to attack the Chinese side.
Under the erroneous example of the United States, South Korea and the United States also announced that they would participate in the meeting the day after they announced their participation, but looking at the face of the United States, they only sent deputy ministers, and these careful thoughts reflected the antagonism between them.
Therefore, the recent frequent interaction between China and the United States is only a weak positive signal, and the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum must be intense, but on the whole, dialogue is better than no contact, and quarreling is better than fighting.