China defence minister warns against 'provocative acts' at Xiangshan Forum

Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun opened the Beijing Xiangshan Forum on Wednesday with a call for nations to refrain from provocative acts and to guard against what he termed regressive historical trends — remarks widely interpreted as veiled criticism of Japan.

Addressing the three-day security gathering, Dong said the world had reached a "fragile moment" and urged a more equal approach to resolving international tensions, though he offered few specifics and avoided direct criticism of rivals.

"We must bear in mind the lessons of history and remain highly vigilant against all latent manifestations of hegemony, militarism and historical revisionism," he said in his opening speech, adding that such behaviour must not be condoned and that broad forces of justice should suppress the "resurgence of historical dregs."

The comments come amid heightened regional tension over Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea, and growing uncertainty about traditional U.S. security commitments in Asia. Ties between Beijing and Tokyo deteriorated last year after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a Japanese military response — a remark that prompted repeated Chinese warnings that Japan was seeking a return to its militarist past.

Dong steered clear of direct criticism of the United States or its regional allies, as some analysts had predicted, and appeared to hew closely to long-held Chinese positions. He called for a peaceful, multipolar world marked by "partnership rather than alliance, win-win rather than zero sum," and said nations must show no leniency towards provocative acts that hijack regional interests for the sake of particular cliques.

The forum is being held a week before Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit the United States for a summit with President Donald Trump. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has ramped up military pressure around the island, including periodic war games; Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims.

Some 2,000 military officers, diplomats and academics from 100 countries are attending the event, which runs until Thursday. Delegates include regional defence ministers, a senior Pentagon official, Russian academics and Taliban representatives.

One of the sharper exchanges came during a panel featuring Saudi think-tank researcher Prince Turki Al-Faisal and senior Iranian military officer Mohammad Taghi Osanlou. Osanlou said the United States was attempting to maintain a "unipolar hegemonic system" against the tide of history, and that external forces were tearing apart Middle Eastern unity. While also criticising the U.S. and Germany, Al-Faisal said Saudi Arabia's immediate concern was Iran's inability to respect the sovereignty of Arab states, "culminating in its aggressive and unlawful attacks on their territories and assets in the recent war."

Seen as a tightly scripted counterpart to the more prominent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the Xiangshan Forum reflects China's expanding military diplomacy, which often takes the form of bilateral exercises that military attaches say are slowly growing in complexity.