Thursday, October 22, 2015

Grand show of military thinking


Pravin Sawhney, dailypioneer.com

Image from, with caption: China's Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Fan Changlong said at the Xiangshan Forum that Beijing's building activities in the South China Sea will not affect freedom of navigation and it will never recklessly resort to use of force
Excerpt:
The Xiangshan Forum was a 1.5 track military diplomacy. China discussed about the new security structure for Asia against the backdrop of President Xi's innovative method of guiding international relations, based not on a zero-sum game, but a win-win through mutual trust.
The sixth Xiangshan Forum held in Beijing from October 16 to October 18 amidst heightened tensions between China and the United States over the disputed South China Sea, was a 1.5 track (officials and experts) military diplomacy. What set it apart was its grand scope and scale and that it was organised by the People’s Liberation Army itself. ...
The Forum had over 350 delegates including nine Defence Ministers (notably Pakistan Defence Minister Asif Khawaja), Deputy Defence Ministers, senior military officials and experts from 49 countries. China had invited Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defence Ministers to a separate China-Asean Defence Ministers meeting, to diffuse regional tension coinciding with dates of the Forum so that they could participate in public diplomacy as well.
Notable absentees to the Forum were Defence Ministers of Vietnam and the Philippines, which have openly protested against China’s territorial aggression, and serving officials from the United States.

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