China says it wants to boost security ties with countries in Asia and the Global South. The country's defense minister Dong Jun made the pronouncement at China's biggest military diplomacy event of the year, the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing.
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00:00China's Defense Minister Dong Jun says Beijing aims to boost its military ties with other
00:05countries in Asia and with developing countries across the board.
00:09Dong was speaking at China's top annual security forum in Beijing.
00:13The Xiangshan Forum is being attended by representatives from dozens of countries, including the U.S.,
00:19Russia, Ukraine, Iran, and Israel.
00:22For more on this, we're joined live by Louise Wat in Taipei.
00:25Louise, there's a lot of countries represented.
00:28How significant is this forum?
00:30Well, not as significant as Beijing would like it to be.
00:36After all, there's no high-level ministers from Western nations.
00:41Even Russia is sending its deputy defense minister.
00:45But that said, there are a lot of delegations from global South nations.
00:49And really, that's where Beijing's attention is.
00:53This event is all about getting Beijing to ramp up its military diplomacy.
00:59It's invited hundreds of representatives from around 90 nations to Beijing for three days
01:05of talks on security, security in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Gaza.
01:10And Dong Jun, he gave the keynote speech, and as well as saying that China wanted to
01:17boost its military ties.
01:19Let's hear what else he said.
01:21In the face of global challenges,
01:24the great powers should make a stand.
01:27To safeguard the safety of all mankind,
01:31we must unite and fight together.
01:34We must not make a big deal out of a small matter,
01:38but make a big deal out of a small matter.
01:41That bit about refrain from bullying the small and the weak nations,
01:46now that's probably a dig at the United States,
01:48which is the world's number one military power.
01:52But many in the region will be seeing it as a bit rich of Dong Jun to say that,
01:58because they see China as the one bullying its smaller nations
02:03over overlapping claims in the South China Sea, and also Taiwan.
02:09But this forum is all about Beijing trying to play a bigger role in global security.
02:16And there is potential for that, because if you remember last year,
02:19it was Beijing that mediated a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran
02:25on getting them to restore relations.
02:27And that's something that the United States,
02:30which has been the main foreign power in the Middle East for decades,
02:34they could not do that.
02:37But Western nations, they're not going to want to see Beijing
02:41play a bigger role in global security.
02:45Western nations and a lot of its neighbours see Beijing as the aggressor.
02:50And yesterday at the Shanshan Forum,
02:53a senior Chinese military official said that Beijing will crush
02:59any foreign interference in the South China Sea.
03:02That's because Beijing sees the South China Sea as its territory,
03:07whereas its neighbours and an international court ruling say otherwise.