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\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eIn the days immediately after attending the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue one year ago, retired People\u0027s Liberation Army (PLA) Major-General Yao Yunzhu, from China\u0027s Academy of Military Sciences, offered her perspective on the summit.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eLamenting a lack of security infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific, Maj-Gen Yao\u0027s key message was that China\u0027s military, in its engagement on the international stage, must \u0022break through the discourse barrier\u0022 in the face of growing criticism from the West.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eIn the interview published by China\u0027s popular journal, World Affairs, she also demanded China\u0027s participation in the dialogue on a similar footing with the United States, traditionally represented by its Secretary of Defence.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eA well-respected expert on Sino-US relations, Maj-Gen Yao achieved something of a celebrity status over the course of her participation in six Shangri-La Dialogues. She impressed delegates with her skill in crafting ingenious lines of questioning and concocting acerbic - sometimes humorous - rebuttals, usually aimed squarely at senior US officials at the summit.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eHer lively engagement with the Shangri-La Dialogue, however, perhaps belied an underlying frustration: that China\u0027s ability to shape international discourse was still not up to scratch and that the military needed to up its game.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eIt seems that her message got through. This weekend, the Defence Minister of China, General Wei Fenghe, will lead the PLA\u0027s delegation and speak in a solo plenary session on the second day of the summit, on an equal footing with the US Acting Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eOnly once before in 2011, on the 10th anniversary of the dialogue, did China\u0027s then Defence Minister Liang Guanglie lead the PLA delegation. Since then, a PLA deputy chief of the joint staff has led China\u0027s delegation. In the last two years, Beijing has reverted to sending much lower-ranking representatives, amid deteriorating relations between China and the US.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eChina\u0027s heavyweight military delegation this year is comprised not only of experts in international military cooperation and defence relations. It also includes two very senior officers with leadership experience in China\u0027s southern theatre command, the military region encompassing the South China Sea.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eThe summit this year is also special because Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will deliver the keynote address. He will have an opportunity to reflect on Singapore\u0027s achievements in its bicentennial year, having navigated through its turbulent post-colonial phase of development. He will also warn of the dangers of great power competition characterising the China-US relationship under Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eThe discourse challenge Maj-Gen Yao has described predates the Trump administration. In 2014, the PLA faced a major hurdle at the Shangri-La Dialogue. A few hundred kilometres away from Singapore, in the heart of the disputed waters of the South China Sea, an astounding feat of maritime engineering and construction was underway.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eA fleet of state-of-the-art Chinese dredging vessels had consumed and regurgitated a number of coral atolls in the Spratly islands, which were then capped with tonnes of concrete. These artificial islands were rapidly transforming into PLA air and naval bases.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eJapanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe\u0027s opening address that year was an irritant for China, especially his thinly veiled criticism of China\u0027s actions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eBut subsequent accusations by then US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel regarding China\u0027s unilateral coercive actions in the South China Sea were apparently the last straw for the PLA\u0027s delegation leader, Lieutenant-General Wang Guanzhong, who departed from his script and accused the US of colluding with allies to intentionally target China.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 style=\u0022color: #5a9ddc; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;\u0022\u003e\u003cspan style=\u0022color: #000000;\u0022\u003eBeijing\u0027s Message\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eGen Wei and his team will be well-prepared for this summit, in particular to tackle questions on the South China Sea.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eChina\u0027s narrative has consisted of three elements:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eFirstly, an insistence that owing to cool-headedness, particularly among Asean members, and strategic composure by Beijing, the waters of the South China Sea have remained calm and tranquil.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eThe second element in China\u0027s narrative is to stress the dual utility of its new islands in the Spratlys and China\u0027s provision of public goods such as navigational aids and rescue services, helping to protect the sea lanes that transect the South China Sea.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eThe third prong of Beijing\u0027s discourse is to emphasise the PLA\u0027s burgeoning efforts in \u0022non-traditional\u0022 security cooperation and in encouraging confidence-building measures, while avoiding discussion of bilateral flashpoints.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eContrary to Beijing\u0027s narrative of the tranquillity of the South China Sea, however, this sea-space - vital to Asia\u0027s continued growth - has witnessed increased militarisation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eOver the last two years, US allies have closed ranks with the US Navy, deploying significant naval power to the region. Illustrating this, France\u0027s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, is currently berthed at Changi Naval Base.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eThe United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada and France have all dispatched naval vessels to conduct manoeuvres and exercises in the international waters of the South China Sea, all aimed at underpinning the \u0022rules-based order\u0022 and international law.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eThe US Department of Defence at the Shangri-La Dialogue will also release its Indo-Pacific Strategy Report, which will spell out the importance of a \u0022Free and Open Indo-Pacific\u0022.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eTaiwan Flashpoint\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eWhile international attention has focused overwhelmingly on the PLA\u0027s new bases in the South China Sea, the access it offers to Taiwan, China\u0027s most sensitive core interest, is often overlooked.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eMaj-Gen Yao, in her quest to break what she has described as discourse hegemony, has often pointed out that Taiwan - which occupies Taiping Island in the Spratlys - was militarised well before China\u0027s reclamation activities took place.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eDr Brendan Taylor\u0027s book, The Four Flashpoints: How Asia Goes To War, describes the \u0022crisis slide\u0022 theory propounded by Dr Coral Bell in the 1970s. Dr Bell had described a concatenation of events which, in the aggregate, triggered both the first and second world wars.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eDr Taylor asserts that the components of a \u0022crisis slide\u0022 are now evident across Asia. The book argues that since China\u0027s occupation of the South China Sea is a fait accompli, Taiwan is a significant flashpoint not to be ignored.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eIn recent months, the US Navy and coast guard have made several transits of the Taiwan Strait, resulting in angry language from China\u0027s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. China has responded by holding military exercises in the vicinity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eFurther escalating bilateral tensions, US National Security Adviser John Bolton met his Taiwanese counterpart David Lee earlier this month, the first meeting at this level since 1979. Furthermore, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has openly subscribed to the Free and Open Indo-Pacific policy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eUS-China relations have continued to decline as the trade war grinds on, strategic rivalry spills over into the digital domain, and China is accused of exploiting debt trap diplomacy through the Belt and Road Initiative.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eWhile President Xi is actively promulgating his vision for the international global order, the Trump administration has taken an overtly critical approach to China, fuelling the widening strategic mistrust between China and the US. Now, it seems, the US is more eager than ever to play the Taiwan card against China.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eIn his first address to a large international audience at the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing in October last year, Gen Wei condemned the US for accusing Beijing of interfering in US domestic politics and colluding with other countries to form an anti-China alliance. His speech followed one by China\u0027s third most powerful Politburo Standing Committee member Li Zhanshu, who also decried alliances aimed at third parties.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eBut Gen Wei took a further step of calling on the US to \u0022remedy its mistakes\u0022, vowing military action against attempts to support Taiwanese independence. It is very likely that he will repeat this message on Sunday, in a renewed effort to break the discourse barrier that China first encountered in 2014.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eMeanwhile, China has argued consistently, and increasingly vocally, that the US alliance system in the Asia-Pacific is a moribund relic of the Cold War and that China is in a position to offer an alternative, more pluralistic approach to regional security.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\u0022color: #333333; background-color: #ffffff; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-right: 50px;\u0022\u003eIn a year celebrating the 70th anniversary of the People\u0027s Republic of China, Gen Wei will likely place great emphasis on this particular discourse.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/beijing-moves-to-own-the-discourse-at-shangri-la-dialogue?\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003eThis piece originally appeared in \u003cspan style=\u0022background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333;\u0022\u003eThe Straits Times.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","className":"richtext reading--content font-secondary"}), document.getElementById("react_ZKILTICUy1qgbTZyimA"))});
\u003cp\u003eBeijing\u0027s narrative of tranquillity in the South China Sea comes amid increased militarisation of the strategic waterway and rising tensions with the United States.\u003c/p\u003e
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