By Yew Lun Tian
BEIJING (Reuters) -Beijing&nbsp;Xiangshan&nbsp;Forum,&nbsp;China's biggest annual show of military diplomacy, started on Sunday, although the Asian power is still missing a&nbsp;defence&nbsp;minister, who typically hosts this event.
China&nbsp;hopes to use the&nbsp;forum&nbsp;to promote President Xi Jinping's vision for a safer world and draw developing countries closer, as it faces increased coordination between the United States and its allies to curtail its military ambitions.
Russian&nbsp;Defence&nbsp;Minister&nbsp;Sergei Shoigu was initially listed in the&nbsp;forum's agenda as the first guest speaker at Monday's opening ceremony, a sign that suggests&nbsp;China&nbsp;intends to give Russia, which invaded in Ukraine in 2022, centre stage at the&nbsp;forum. But as of Sunday, Shoigu&rsquo;s name was not on the agenda.
The U.S.&nbsp;defence&nbsp;department has sent a delegation led by Xanthi Carras,&nbsp;China&nbsp;country director in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense.
This year's&nbsp;forum&nbsp;takes place at an awkward time for&nbsp;China, when it is without a&nbsp;defence&nbsp;minister, whose main role is to engage with foreign militaries.
On Tuesday, Beijing sacked&nbsp;defence&nbsp;minister&nbsp;Li Shangfu but did not name a replacement. Reuters reported last month that Li, who has been missing for two months, was being investigated for corruption.
Chinese military leaders more senior than the&nbsp;defence&nbsp;minister&nbsp;have filled in for Li. State media reported that Zhang Youxia and He Weidong, ranked number two and three in the military, separately held bilateral meetings with the&nbsp;defence&nbsp;ministers from Laos, Mongolia and Vietnam on Saturday.
Zhang is due to make a speech at a dinner reception on Sunday and also give the keynote address on Monday, a task performed by the&nbsp;defence&nbsp;minister&nbsp;in previous years.
State news agency Xinhua reported that the number and level of foreign participants, including 22&nbsp;defence&nbsp;ministers and 14 military chiefs, are the highest this year since the&nbsp;forum&nbsp;was first held in 2006.
In particular,&nbsp;China&nbsp;is focusing its outreach to the Global South.
Zhao Yufei, an official with the event organiser, said the&nbsp;forum&nbsp;will call on developing countries to oppose bloc confrontation and a "Cold War mentality", which are two frequent criticisms Beijing have of the West.
Two&nbsp;defence&nbsp;diplomats whose countries have sent&nbsp;ministers told Reuters the&nbsp;forum&nbsp;offers a rare opportunity to engage with senior Chinese&nbsp;defence&nbsp;officials and military leaders to build trust, which would be key in times of crisis.
Concerned about how open the&nbsp;forum&nbsp;can be, many in the West have either shunned it or are only sending small and low-level delegations, preferring instead to discuss international security issues at the Shangri-La Dialogue held annually in Singapore.
Some European countries, including France, plan to send a small delegation from their&nbsp;defence&nbsp;ministries, according to sources familiar with the matter.
NATO's delegation will be led by Wendin Smith, its security policy director, a NATO official said.
(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian and Laurie Chen, additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels)

you might like

China kickstarts Xiangshan Forum in absence of defence minister