The big question hanging over this year’s Shangri-La ​Dialogue, Asia’s premier defence forum, is: “Where is China?”

For the second year running, Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun has given the ‌free-wheeling Singapore security meeting a miss, skipping opportunities to meet US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth as well as counterparts from Australia, France, Britain, Japan and other nations.

In his place, Beijing sent a low-profile delegation of People’s Liberation Army “experts and scholars” — a step down from the usual high-powered presence.

A highlight of the dialogue’s annual programme ​has been a robust speech by China’s defence minister or senior official laying out Beijing’s defence doctrine and outlook on global ​tensions. But the speech helmed by China has been dropped from this year’s programme, like in 2025.

Even Hegseth ⁠took note.

“I wish my counterpart was here at this conference, but I look forward to other options when we can cross paths and ​communicate, talk about things where often actions at sea or actions in the air are perceived differently,” he said during his own keynote speech ​on Saturday.

Australia’s Richard Marles called it a lost opportunity for countries to have frank, face-to-face talks on flashpoints.

Dong Jun, however, did meet Hegseth during US President Donald Trump’s visit to China earlier this month.

Zhou Bo, a retired PLA senior colonel and a member of China’s delegation to the meeting, downplayed his absence.

“This is not the first ​time the defence minister is not attending,” he said. “And academic delegations have come before. But it is true that the level of the ​delegation is relatively low this time.”

Some analysts point to a more calculated choice: avoiding questions like Taiwan tensions and the effect of military corruption purges on China’s ‌combat readiness.

“My ⁠feeling is that they are trying to avoid tough questions,” said Chong Ja Ian, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore.

“The question that comes up with the (Chinese) delegation, since it is so researcher-heavy, is their representativeness and authoritativeness.”

HEGSETH’S COMMENTS ON CHINA THIS YEAR RESTRAINED

Diplomats said Beijing may also have wanted to avoid a repeat of last year’s dialogue, when Hegseth described China as a threat in the Indo-Pacific and ​urged Asian allies to boost defence ​spending.

Beijing responded at the time ⁠by accusing the United States of vilifying China.

This year, Hegseth struck a more measured tone, although he cautioned that “no state, including China, can impose its hegemony and hold the security or prosperity of our nation and ​our allies in question”.

He added that US-China relations were better than they had been in many years.

China ​began sending a usually ⁠high-powered delegation to the 23-year-old event in 2007. It dispatched its defence minister in 2011 and again in 2019, and continued the practice from 2022 to 2024. The Shangri-La Dialogue was suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bilahari Kausikan, a veteran Singapore diplomat, said the Shangri-La Dialogue ⁠was always ​primarily about anchoring the US in Southeast Asia and ensuring its defence chief comes ​to Singapore and Southeast Asia at least once a year.

“Whether China is represented by its defence minister is a secondary factor. It would be nice but not essential to ​have the Chinese defence minister here.”