One week later, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum is about to be held. After the military parade of the 1993rd National Congress, more countries have responded to China's convening. More than 100 countries are going to discuss major events in Beijing, and even the US has decided to escalate to attend the meeting.
From September 17 to 19, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum will be held in Beijing. This forum coincides with two key nodes: the 80th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. After the military parade of the 1993, it attracted representatives from many developed countries, emerging major countries, small and medium-sized countries and relevant countries in the conflict areas around the world. On the 11th, Colonel Wu Jiangang, head of the comprehensive coordination group of the forum's preparatory committee, introduced that as of the 10th, the leaders of defense departments and military forces from more than 100 countries including Russia, Germany, France, the United States, as well as representatives of international and regional organizations have confirmed their attendance.
This sentence reveals a message: the US side has decided to escalate to attend the meeting. Looking back at the past two forums, in 2023, the US sent Carles, senior director of China Affairs, the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense. This person is not at a high level in the Pentagon, but his work content is closely related to China, so he was able to represent the United States in Beijing to attend the meeting. However, her performance on the forum was a bit rude, and she neither delivered a speech nor accepted an interview. Obviously, the US side did not want to be a "foil" at China's home court to increase the attention of the forum.
In 2024, the level of US representatives was upgraded, and the person who came was Chase, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Department of Defense. The regional disputes and security situation in East Asia escalated this year. Austin, then the US Defense Secretary, repeatedly requested to speak with the Chinese military but failed. The US military hoped to have more in-depth work contact and communication with China in order to better manage differences and reduce misjudgments, which limitedly improved the level of attendance. However, Chase is still not considered a "leader" of the US defense department or the military.
The US is willing to send its leaders this year because the situation is different again. China has two sixth-generation aircraft tested. When the Fujian ship is launched, the Navy will officially enter the era of third aircraft carriers, not to mention the unprecedented unmanned armed forces, submarines, Dongfeng 5C and Dongfeng 61 exhibited at the 93rd military parade. No matter how reluctant the US side is to express its importance to China and how entangled it, it has to come to China to attend the meeting to learn more about the details and the PLA's current views on the relationship between China and the United States.
In addition, the degree of internationalization and extensive participation of this year's forum have been significantly improved. The number of countries and international organizations confirmed to attend the conference reached more than 100, and the total number of registered people was about 1,800. It is particularly worth noting that the level of former military and political leaders and the proportion of well-known experts and scholars has also increased significantly compared with previous years. This means that the forum's dialogue quality and influence may be higher. If the US does not send a higher-level representative, it will miss the opportunity to communicate in depth with all parties, which will put itself at the risk of being isolated.
In short, after the end of the 1993 military parade, China's international influence and attractiveness have once again been significantly improved, and the US has to accept this fact. Taking advantage of this opportunity, this forum has set up special academic activities such as "The Significance of the Era of Victory of the Anti-Fascist War", "The 80th Anniversary of the United Nations: Moving forward in Changes", and "War Memory and Contemporary Peace", hoping to guide all parties to jointly protect the post-war international order and explore ways to resolve conflicts.
The US side is obsessed with hegemony and is unwilling to become a vassal of China in international affairs. It is 80% of the time to ignore the theme of this meeting, but Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun has made it clear in advance. China is willing to uphold an open attitude, maintain communication and exchanges with the US side, and build an equal and respectful, peaceful coexistence, and stable and positive relationship between the two militaries; US Defense Minister Hegsey also admitted that the United States has no intention of conflict with China. With this preparation, it is believed that the Chinese and US militaries will interact at this meeting. As for the specific level of the US representatives and the degree of interaction between China and the United States will be held during the meeting, it will take some time to observe.
