Overview

• The three-day gathering in Beijing hosts about 1,800 attendees from roughly 100 countries, according to organizers and state media.
• Opening the forum, Defence Minister Dong Jun warned that external military interference and sphere-of-influence politics risk chaos and a world ruled by force.
• Russia fielded a prominent delegation led by Deputy Defence Minister Anna Tsivileva, as senior Russian figures promoted tighter security coordination with China.
• Western participation skews to lower-level envoys, with the United States represented by its embassy’s defence attache rather than a higher-ranking official.
• Despite sharp rhetoric, U.S. and Chinese defence leaders recently held a call the Pentagon described as candid and constructive, while Dong framed China’s maritime posture as defending the post-war order.