Beijing hosts Xiangshan Forum, marking 20th anniversary of China’s top defence conference

This live article is freely available to our registered users. Please log in or create an account below.Beijing is hosting China’s most important annual defence conference, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, bringing defence officials, former politicians and think tank experts to the city from around the world.About 200 specialists and researchers are expected to take part in the forum this week, which many see as Beijing’s answer to Singapore’s annual Shangri-la Dialogue, the region’s biggest defence conference.This year marks the Xiangshan Forum’s 20th anniversary. The three-day event runs from Tuesday to Thursday and comes amid a series of high-profile diplomatic events.The forum is being held a week before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s summit with US President Donald Trump in Washington on September 24. Over the past weekend, Xi travelled to India for the Brics summit.Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun is expected to address the forum.Reporting by Amber Wang, Albee Zhang, Dewey Sim, Seong Hyeon Choi, William Zheng and Alcott Wei