China’s defence chief warns against coercion, avoids US, Japan mention

Dong Jun pitches shared security governance and military cooperation while warning against coercion and regressive historical trends at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum.

Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun has said that countries around the world should cease provocative acts and check the resurgence of regressive historical trends.

Dong made his remarks, likely to be taken as veiled criticism of Japan, on Wednesday while opening the 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum. In a broad speech, he urged a fresh, more inclusive approach to resolving international tensions, though he offered few specifics or any direct criticisms of rivals.

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“We must bear the lessons of history in mind and remain highly vigilant against all latent manifestations of hegemony, militarism and historical revisionism,” Dong said.

“We must not turn a blind eye or condone such behaviour. By rallying broad-based forces of justice, we must suppress the resurgence of historical dregs,” he added.

The forum is being held amid heightened regional tensions over Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea, as well as growing doubts about traditional US security commitments to Asia.

It also comes a week before an expected trip by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump.

Dong’s address built on comments made earlier while meeting visiting foreign guests. In separate sit-downs with defence officials from Myanmar, Brunei, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, as well as ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn, Dong pitched a vision of deeper military cooperation and shared security as an immediate curtain-raiser for the forum.

Over the past two decades, Beijing has carefully built the Xiangshan Forum into its primary platform for military diplomacy, positioning it as a tightly scripted alternative to Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue.

Bringing together hundreds of military officers, diplomats and scholars from dozens of countries, the three-day gathering provides China with a high-profile stage to champion a multipolar world and advocate for a greater voice for the Global South.

Focus on Japan

As some analysts predicted, Dong did not make direct criticisms of the United States or its regional allies, including Japan.

Ties between China and Japan plummeted after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a Japanese military response, prompting repeated warnings from Beijing that Japan is seeking a return to its aggressive past.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has ramped up military pressure around the island, including periodically staging war games. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s claims of sovereignty.

Earlier, a Chinese scholar attending the forum warned that Japan’s growing involvement in the South China Sea could undermine regional peace over the long term.

“I think that, from a longer-term perspective, Japan could be more damaging to peace and stability in the South China Sea than the United States,” Wu Shicun, chairman of the Huayang Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance, told the Chinese news agency CNS.

Wu warned that Japan fixates on the waterway as a springboard to attack and invade Southeast Asia, and to control sea lanes. He added that Tokyo’s actions would have a series of negative effects on dispute resolution, maritime cooperation and consultations on a Code of Conduct, stressing that regional states must remain vigilant about this.

A delegation from North Korea’s Ministry of National Defence, led by Vice Minister Kim Kang Il, departs for China to attend the 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum, in Pyongyang on September 15, 2026 [KCNA/Reuters]

For visiting foreign envoys, navigating the forum involves balancing complex regional dynamics. Western governments have largely dispatched lower-level representatives, with the US contingent led by senior Pentagon official Cynthia Carras.

Meanwhile, neighbouring countries attempting to manage ties between Washington and Beijing sent top defence leadership, including Vietnamese Defence Minister Phan Van Giang and Malaysian Vice Defence Minister Adly Zahari. A delegation from North Korea’s Ministry of National Defence, led by Vice Minister Kim Kang Il, is also attending, according to KCNA.