In recent times, Chinese President Xi Jinping has often called for China to take the lead in establishing a new regional security architecture in the Indo-Pacific region. To that end, Beijing has reinvigorated its regional diplomacy to shape the multilateral agenda in a manner that better supports its views and interests. In addition to enhancing and reshaping existing forums, China is also developing a new, multi-layered network of alternative forums to advance its messages and foreign policy goals in the region.
With this as background, the Asia Society Policy Institute and RSIS convened a workshop on 10 July 2019 to better understand how China is operationalising its vision of a new Asian security architecture. The workshop examined the new institutions and forums that Beijing is promoting in the region, including the so-called parallel forums, one of which is the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, which coexists alongside the Shangri-La Dialogue.
The workshop also examined the policy priorities and messages that China is seeking to advance through these avenues. The workshop brought together a panel of scholars from the Indo-Pacific region to discuss the impact of these Chinese efforts on the broader regional order, and also touched upon how Beijing’s enhanced engagements are perceived by other countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
