China issues pugnacious monologue at Shangri-La Dialogue

China and the US remain far apart in terms of relations, even as the Shangri-La Dialogue – organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) from June 2-4 – brings the nations together to discuss issues is designed.

China’s refusal to accept a meeting with the US at the 2023 event in Singapore is emblematic of the troubled relationship. Instead of negotiating, the Chinese government presented its unilateral approach and asked others to essentially like it or tie the knot.

This was very evident in the speech of General Li Shangfu, China’s Minister of National Defense, who deflected blame, pointed fingers at others and shamelessly pushed a distorted worldview that only the Communist masters in Beijing believed in.

This was Li’s first international engagement since being appointed to the post on March 12, but his speech rekindled the party’s old rhetoric. Meanwhile, the rest of the world recognizes the growing disconnect between what China says and what it does.

“Our world is far from peaceful, and people across the country yearn for peace, development and cooperation,” Li acknowledged at the IISS on June 4. How ironic that Li was speaking on the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, of which hundreds of peaceful Chinese protesters lost their lives in 1989, and of which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has erased all traces from social memory.

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