Later this year, Beijing invited the defense chiefs
of South Korea, North Korea, and Japan to the Xiangshan Forum county security
conference. The conference organized by the Chinese Defense Minister and
scheduled from Nov. 20 to 22.
The Xiangshan Forum is a bi-yearly track-II defense
discussion that mostly involves defense international scholars. Beijing has
decided to invite regional defense chiefs to this year’s conference because it aims for a first forum whose theme will be ”cooperation
and win-win, build Asian community of destiny.”
The South Korean government said to Yonhap News, China sent
invitations to “South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo, North Korean Defense
Minister Hyon Yong-chol and Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera.”
Chinese Ministry of Defense spokesman Yang Yujun noted
that the Xiangshan Forum will be “upgraded” this year, though he did give any
specification how. Beijing sees the future success of the forum through inviting top regional defense officials.
The Xiangshan Forum is supported by the Chinese Defense
Ministry but is introduced and organized by the China Military Sciences
Society (CMSS),
a government-affiliated academic organization.
Beijing has been taking the initiative with
security multilateralism in Asia under President Xi Jinping who believes
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Conference on Interaction and
Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), and other China-led groupings as
the future of a security order that reflects an “Asia for Asians,” putting
aside the United States and its allies in the course.
The Beijing’s
decision to invite officials from across the region comes after the first trilateral meeting between high-level Chinese,
Japanese, and South Korean in 11 months. If the two countries like South Korean and Japanese defense ministers join
this forum, it would signify the second high-level trilateral exchange between
China, Japan and South Korea in a two month period. During the last week’s trilateral meeting, the three
countries agreed to hold a trilateral summit before the end of the year. 
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