‘No other conference in the world can do this: It brings together people from Ukraine, representatives of NATO, and even voices from Russia, all on the same panel, talking to one another. It is fantastic of the Xiangshan Forum!” Jean Christophe Iseux von Pfetten, President of the Royal Institute for East-West Strategic Studies in Britain, said. Speaking in Chinese at the 12th Beijing Xiangshan Forum in Beijing on September 18, his words carried the weight of his emotion.
The annual Beijing Xiangshan Forum is China’s top security and defense conference, aiming at providing an equal, inclusive and diverse platform for participants to engage in constructive dialogues and build consensus and trust. Over three days from September 17, more than 1,800 participants from over 100 countries and organizations gathered under the forum’s theme of Upholding International Order and Promoting Peaceful Development. The conversations were open, at times tense, yet underscored something simple and profound: In a fractured world, talking itself becomes an act of peace.
Echoes from history
Eighty years have passed since the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War. But the echoes of that history still shape today’s debates. At the forum, the questions came quickly: How should the world remember the war? How can the world’s post-war order continue to evolve?
On the event’s opening day, these questions sparked spirited exchange as the speakers clashed, reflected and searched for common ground. Among them was Harold E. Raugh Jr., President of the International Commission of Military History, a global organization dedicated to advancing research and education in the field. He reminded delegates that China’s wartime role remains gravely under-recognized in the West.
China was the main theater in the East of the World Anti-Fascist War. Over the course of 14 years of the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, from 1931 to 1945, China tied down more than two thirds of the Japanese Army, at the cost of more than 35 million casualties. “That sacrifice is seldom reflected in Western textbooks,” Raugh Jr. said.
Chinese historians shared similar views. Hu Dekun, Honorary President of the Chinese Association of Second World War History, pointed out that many global accounts date World War II (WWII) from Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939, erasing the eight years China had already been fighting at that point. “China was the true main Eastern theater of the World Anti-Fascist War,” Hu said.
The neglect, according to Raugh, was not just about language barriers or academic oversight but about narrative dominance. He stressed that Western countries monopolized the writing of history after 1945.
For Chinese participants, remembrance was not about dwelling on victimhood but about sustaining vigilance. “The lesson of WWII is that great powers must coexist peacefully,” said Meng Xiangqing, a military affairs expert. “The trend of peaceful development and cooperation is irresistible.”
The commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, including a military parade, in Beijing on September 3, attended by 26 heads of state and government, was framed in this spirit. “It was not about showing muscle, but about showing responsibility,” said Zheng Yongnian, a professor of international relations at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen).
Yan Xuetong, Dean of the Institute of International Relations at Beijing-based Tsinghua University, said the September 3 event sent a clear message: More and more countries are willing to engage in security and strategic cooperation with China.
Between rivalry and restraint
If history offers sobering lessons, present realities call for deeper reflection. Speaking at a September 17 session titled The Right Way for Major Countries to Get Along, held before the forum’s opening, Chad Sbragia, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, pointed to a recent phone call between Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
During that September 9 phone conversation, Hegseth assured that the U.S. “does not seek conflict with China, nor regime change or strangulation of the PRC (People’s Republic of China).” Sbragia described the remarks as “unprecedented,” suggesting they signaled a “significant shift in U.S. policy.”
Wu Xinbo, Director of Shanghai-based Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies, offered a cooler appraisal. He insisted that it is not what the U.S. says, but what it does, that matters. Despite rhetorical reassurances, the U.S. Government “still very much focuses on the Asia-Pacific, with China as a target, and is trying to mobilize its allies in this region to join the U.S. in deterring China particularly in the Taiwan Straits.” For Wu, the key to peaceful coexistence is simple: Respect sovereignty and equality.
“First in trade and economic relations, and then expand this to diplomatic and even security relations so that we can have a broader understanding about where this relationship is heading and what progress we can make realistically in each area,” Wu said.
When asked about the bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation set to arrive in China a few days later, Sbragia admitted the visit would have been difficult to imagine not long ago. “I don’t think anybody would have anticipated that the House Armed Services Committee would be interested to come here,” he said. “But I think that reflects the changing dynamics of the strategic environment itself. My suspicions are that they want to better understand where we’re at in terms of the overarching relationship, but specifically with the security relationship.”
The U.S. delegation was led by Representative Adam Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. On September 21, Chinese Premier Li Qiang received Smith and his colleagues at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. During the meeting, Li noted that as China and the United States are major countries with significant global influence, maintaining stable, sound and sustainable development of bilateral relations serves the common interests of both sides and meets the expectations of the international community.
Building peace beyond rhetoric
If dialogue is the foundation of peace, then peacekeeping is its practice. The forum looked ahead with this in mind, taking international peacekeeping as one of its focuses. For 35 years, China has been one of the largest contributors to United Nations peacekeeping operations. Since dispatching five military observers in 1990, it has taken part in 26 missions, sending over 50,000 personnel to more than 20 countries and regions. Seventeen Chinese peacekeepers have lost their lives whilst on active duty.
Senior Colonel Gong Guoxi, Deputy Director of the Peacekeeping Affairs Center of China’s Ministry of National Defense, called this record “a key force in global stability” at the forum. He detailed how Chinese contingents, engineers, doctors and infantry support both security and development.
Major Dai Tingyu from China participated in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, one of the United Nations’ most challenging peacekeeping missions, as medical personnel in 2021-22. What she shared at the forum brought statistics to life. In a single year, she organized 83 casualty evacuations, 30 emergency medical escorts and nine body repatriations. “On average, there was one escort every two days,” she said on September 17. Beyond battlefield medicine, her team offered acupuncture and cupping therapy to colleagues from other nations, blending relief with cultural exchange.
China’s support “enables vital operations in some of the world’s most difficult theaters,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under Secretary General for Peace Operations of the UN, said at the session.
Such contributions reflect China’s broader approach: Stand for fairness and justice, firmly opposing hegemony, power politics and the attempts of a few to dictate the destiny of others or monopolize development opportunities.
As Dong underscored in his keynote at the forum’s opening, building military relations rooted in peace, friendship, stability and mutual trust is an essential safeguard for global security. By contrast, he warned, military alliances and bloc politics, small circles that serve hegemonic interests, manufacture enemies, foster division and export confrontation, must be approached with vigilance and firmly opposed.
China, he stressed, remains committed to non-alignment, extending its hand in friendship widely and working to build new forms of security partnerships through unity and cooperation to address risks together.
“In an era full of challenges, cooperation is our best choice, and the only path to lasting peace,” Dong concluded. –The Daily Mail-Beijing Review news exchange item
