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Attendees communicate with each other before the plenary meeting of the 5th Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, capital of China. The two-day Xiangshan Forum focuses on security in the Asia-Pacific region. The biennial event, organized by China Society of Military Sciences, has been held since 2006. It will be held annually starting this year. (Xinhua/Shen Dongdong) |
In 2014, with support of the Ministry of National Defense, the China Association for Military Science turned a forum for 30 scholars into one of the largest security forums in the Asia-Pacific. This year, around 60 official delegations and 130 scholars from around the world will gather in Beijing to attend the Sixth Xiangshan Forum from Oct 16-18. The Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will deliver a key note speech at the inauguration dinner.
What does China, or more precisely the People's Liberation Army, want from such a forum? The first answer is: a louder voice. So far the PLA's humanitarian efforts such as counter-piracy, peace-keeping and disaster relief have been praised, but its efforts in safeguarding China's sovereignty and territorial integrity are often misinterpreted or even deliberately smeared. It is not rare to hear the PLA being described as "aggressive" or "assertive". Even the military parade to commemorate the victory in Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) and the end of World War II was taken as a display of its muscles by Western media. This is unfair. Today even those most skeptical about China have to admit that China's rise has been peaceful.
The forum allows some of the best China specialists in the world to observe the PLA up close. China has recently decided to massively enlarge the number of troops it has on standby for UN peacekeeping missions and has said it will train more foreign peacekeepers. Is this a turning point that indicates the PLA will shoulder greater international responsibilities?
President Xi Jinping also recently announced a cut in 300,000 military personnel. This will be followed by one of the most fundamental restructurings in the history of the PLA after the founding of the People's Republic of China. How will the PLA carry this out?
Questions like these will be answered at the forum.
