Opinion | How the Shangri-La Dialogue turned into a diplomatic coup for China
- Richard Heydarian writes that China’s neighbours seem more worried about a power conflict than Beijing’s growing Indo-Pacific footprint
- Few seem ready to openly rally behind America’s call for jointly confronting China
Reflecting on the future of geopolitics, the legendary Singaporean statesman Lee Kuan Yew said: “The size of China’s displacement of the world balance is such that the world must find a new balance.”
Once the Chinese steamroller gets into motion, the late prime minister said, “it is not possible to pretend that this is just another big player. This is the biggest player in the history of the world”.
Over the past decade, the echoes of this seismic geopolitical shift have been perfectly on display at the Shangri-La Dialogue, the most prestigious defence forum in the Indo-Pacific, annually hosted by Singapore.
The summit brings together no less than senior defence officials and leading strategic experts from all across the world. It serves as the chief register of the regional geopolitical temperature and its likely trajectory in the coming decades.
The latest meeting exposed how everyone, including the United States, is still confounded by China’s rise, not only as an economic behemoth but as a major regional military power.
Instead of serving as an avenue to isolate China, the event served as a diplomatic coup for Beijing.