Editorial | China sends message regional security rests on joint efforts of all

While Western media focus on China’s relations with the United States, Beijing’s security strategy is focused on neighbourly relations and, in particular, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The aim is to have a stable environment in which difficult economic reform may be pursued.

A case in point is the three-day Xiangshan Forum, China’s leading security event.

The country’s new defence minister, Dong Jun, addressed an audience including his counterparts from Vietnam, Singapore and Cambodia and senior defence officials from other Asean members, among 20 ministers and 700 delegates from around 100 countries.

Dong said “each country is eager to [put their] destiny in their own hands to better safeguard sovereign, security, and development interests”. China was open to “pragmatic” cooperation with other armed forces to build mutual trust and step up defence ties with countries in the region.

His remarks echoed the sentiments of a congratulatory letter to the forum from President Xi Jinping, in which he called for joint efforts to tackle security challenges arising from global changes of a magnitude unseen for a century.