Chinese Defense Minister Admiral Dong Jun will not attend the security forum in Singapore. Meanwhile, rumors of Xi Jinping's purges among high-ranking PRC officers are being confirmed.
UNN reports with reference to Financial Times.
Details
China's defense minister will not participate in the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore next week, an unusual absence after years of participation in the meeting. According to FT, the reason for Dong Dung's absence has not been officially proven to the Pentagon. The Chinese Embassy in the United States did not respond to a request for comment. Instead, it is already known that US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegset will speak at the event in Singapore.
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Dung's possible absence comes amid reports that PRC leader Xi Jinping is continuing to purge high-ranking officers in the Central Military Commission, which consists of six members and manages the PLA.
Last month, the Financial Times reported that Xi had removed General He Weidong, the number two general in the Chinese army. Six months before that resignation, the Secretary General of the Chinese Communist Party removed Admiral Miao Hua.
According to FT, Dong was investigated last year. However, he remained in his post at the time. Two people familiar with his case said Dong had undergone an initial investigation but appeared to have been acquitted.
Addition
Regarding the event in Singapore itself. In recent years, the Chinese delegation to the Shangri-La Dialogue has come under strong pressure, FT writes. The reason is that American and other Indo-Pacific officials have criticized the increasingly assertive activities of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) around Taiwan and other parts of the South China Sea.
The Shangri-La Dialogue is always awkward for the PLA because almost everyone there faces China's assertive and coercive behavior in one form or another,
Recall
Tokyo strongly protested to the Chinese ambassador over the intrusion of coast guard ships into Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands.
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