A stronger Chinese military will serve as a stronger guarantor of peace, China’s Defence Minister Dong Jun declared on Thursday, reaffirming Beijing’s commitment to uphold the post-war international order while rejecting the notion of military blocs and power politics.
Speaking at the 2025 Xiangshan Forum, China’s flagship defence conference, Dong emphasized that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is not a destabilizing force but a “ballast for peace and stability.” His remarks underscored Beijing’s ambition to recast global security frameworks in ways that both legitimize China’s expanding role and challenge U.S.-led military alliances in Asia and beyond.
“The stronger the PLA becomes, the stronger the power to constrain war will grow, and the more assured world peace and development will be,” Dong told delegates in a keynote speech that spanned thirty minutes. “We resolutely defend the outcomes of World War II and will support the capacity of all militaries to defend their rightful interests.”
His comments come at a delicate moment of heightened competition between Washington and Beijing, frictions in the South China Sea, and renewed tensions over Taiwan.
Launched in 2006, the Xiangshan Forum has steadily gained stature, positioning itself as China’s answer to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. While the Shangri-La Dialogue often reflects Western security perspectives, Beijing presents Xiangshan as a venue where non-Western voices, particularly those from the Global South, are amplified.
This year’s three-day event drew an estimated 1,800 delegates, including defence officials, diplomats, and security scholars from nearly 100 countries. Among them were senior representatives from the United States, Russia, Vietnam, Nigeria, Singapore, and Malaysia. Singapore Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing and Malaysian Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin were also in attendance, signaling Southeast Asia’s continued interest in engaging both China and the broader region on security issues.
The forum’s agenda revolved around four themes: global security governance, Asia-Pacific cooperation, safeguarding the international order, and building regional peace.
By choosing such themes, Beijing positioned itself as not only a regional power but a global stakeholder. “This is a platform for China to say: we are here, we are strong, and we want to reshape the global conversation on security,” said a Western diplomat attending the event.
Dong’s speech made clear that Beijing views the PLA’s growth as a stabilizing factor rather than a threat. “The Chinese military will act as a ballast for peace and stability, upholding the vision of permanent peace enshrined in the United Nations Charter,” he said.
China’s message: military strength is not meant to intimidate but to prevent war. This framing is consistent with President Xi Jinping’s long-standing narrative that China seeks “peaceful development” while defending its sovereignty and national dignity.
Dong also took pains to distance China from Western-style military alliances. “China opposes military alliances and exclusive blocs aimed at hegemony,” he said. Instead, he promoted “new security partnerships” built on equality, non-alignment, and mutual benefit.
For disputes, Beijing’s prescription is dialogue and consultation rather than coercion or force. “Disputes should be managed by addressing root causes,” Dong said, echoing China’s longstanding criticism of what it sees as interventionist Western approaches.
A recurring thread in Dong’s speech was the emphasis on reforming global governance. He argued that defence and security cooperation are essential to making the international system “more just and reasonable.”
This message dovetails with President Xi’s latest proposal, the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), unveiled two weeks ago at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization-Plus summit in Tianjin. The GGI builds on earlier Chinese proposals — the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), and the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI). Together, they form Beijing’s blueprint for a multipolar world order less dominated by Western powers.
“These represent China’s response to world changes and global challenges, offering Chinese solutions,” Dong said.
By presenting itself as a leader of multipolarity, China aims to attract support from countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America that feel sidelined by the Western-led system.
But while Dong called for cooperation and peaceful development, his speech also carried hard lines, particularly on Taiwan.
Calling the island “an inseparable part of China, both historically and legally,” Dong stressed that Taiwan’s status was central to the international order created after World War II. “Upholding the post-war order is not about rebuilding it from scratch but about strengthening its foundations. Taiwan’s return to China is part of this international order,” he said.
He reiterated that the PLA was “a powerful force for reunification” and would never allow “Taiwan independence separatism” to succeed. “We are always ready to defeat any external interference,” he added, in an unmistakable warning to the United States and its allies.
This framing ties Taiwan not only to China’s domestic sovereignty claims but also to the legitimacy of the post-1945 system. By doing so, Beijing is attempting to cast Western support for Taiwan as a violation of the very order they claim to defend.
The South China Sea, another flashpoint, was also highlighted in Dong’s remarks. He said China is working with regional states “to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties and accelerate talks on a Code of Conduct.”
Insisting that Beijing’s actions are defensive, Dong argued that safeguarding China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights is “a defence of post-war order and international law.”
He criticized “some external countries” that cite freedom of navigation or “invoke biased arbitration” — a reference to the 2016 ruling by The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration, which invalidated much of China’s expansive maritime claims. Beijing has consistently rejected that ruling.
To China’s critics, this approach reflects selective adherence to international law. But to its supporters, it is a call for region-led solutions free from outside interference.
Perhaps the most telling part of Dong’s speech was his emphasis on multipolarity. “We support true multilateralism. Multipolarity is the trend of the times, but it must be equal and orderly, not a jungle of competing powers,” he said.
Multipolarity, in Beijing’s framing, means a world where multiple great powers co-exist, each respected within its sphere of influence. This differs from multilateralism, which emphasizes equal participation of all states regardless of size.
Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, noted that this distinction matters. “Multipolarity, historically, means you have big powers. They cover areas of the world in which they’re dominant,” Chong said. “That sort of idea of dominance, of presence, is something that Beijing would like to emphasize.”
But this approach could unsettle China’s neighbours. “The downside of that is it could cause alarm among Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines,” Chong added. “They could then take steps to try to counter, and that could get us into a security spiral.”
Reactions to Dong’s speech were mixed. Southeast Asian delegates welcomed the emphasis on dialogue and regional leadership, but some remained wary of China’s intentions.
A diplomat from a Southeast Asian state, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We welcome China’s willingness to discuss codes of conduct. But the proof is in the practice. If Chinese coast guard ships continue to challenge our vessels, words alone will not reassure.”
For U.S. officials, China’s framing of “multipolarity” is seen as a strategy to weaken Washington’s alliances and replace them with China-centric partnerships. “China wants a system where it sets the rules in Asia and others defer. That’s not multilateralism,” said one U.S. analyst.
Meanwhile, Russia, also represented at the forum, echoed China’s criticism of military blocs, reinforcing the growing strategic alignment between Moscow and Beijing.
For China, the challenge is to convince the world that its military modernization is defensive, not hegemonic. The PLA is undergoing the most significant transformation in its history, building advanced naval, missile, and cyber capabilities. While China insists these are for national defence, its neighbours watch with unease.
Beijing argues that its military growth mirrors its economic rise and global responsibilities. Critics counter that China’s assertiveness in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea tells a different story.
Dong’s rhetoric at the Xiangshan Forum reflects this balancing act: portraying China as a peace promoter while reserving the right to act decisively when its “core interests” are challenged.
The Xiangshan Forum has become China’s stage to project its preferred global order: one where military strength underpins peace, multipolarity replaces U.S.-led alliances, and regional disputes are settled without outside interference.
Dong Jun’s speech reinforced this narrative, weaving together themes of post-war order, global governance reform, and cooperative security, while drawing firm lines on Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Whether the world buys into Beijing’s framing remains uncertain. To many, China’s calls for peace coexist uneasily with its assertive actions. But what is clear is that Beijing is determined to define its military rise not as a threat, but as a contribution to world stability.
As the defence minister put it: “The stronger the PLA becomes, the stronger the power to constrain war will grow.”
