Experts to discuss solutions to international security issues in videoconference of Beijing Xiangshan Forum
Global experts, including those from China and the US, will likely engage in heated exchanges over different solutions to international security issues in the upcoming expert videoconference of the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, Senior Colonel Zhao Xiaozhuo, deputy director of the Beijing Xiangshan Forum Secretariat, told the Global Times on Monday in an exclusive interview.
The expert videoconference, scheduled for December 1 to 2 organized by the Academy of Military Sciences amid the intensifying international security situation, will not avoid sensitive issues, but instead focus on discussion of solutions to these issues, Zhao revealed.
He also said that depending on the situation of the epidemic, relevant parties all expect the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum to be held in 2023.
Initiated in 2006, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum has grown into a vital influential platform for dialogue over defense and security in the AsiaPacific region. The forum has been postponed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, yearly expert videoconferences and a series of academic symposiums were held by the Xiangshan Forum Secretariat.
So far, 40 experts from 14 countries and one international organization have confirmed they will attend this year’s event, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said a press conference on Thursday.
The international security situation has been worsening since 2020, of which the RussiaUkraine conflict is a typical reflection as it broke the peace and stability in Europe that had been sustained for 30 years since the Cold War ended, and it has lasted for a longer period than anyone predicted, Zhao noted.
China-US relations are faced with much uncertainty, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, and climate change deeply affects humans’ survival and development. All these factors combine together and trigger public concern over the international security environment, Zhao said.
Experts and scholars to attend the conference include those from the US, Russia, India, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. They are expected to engage in heated exchanges over hot issues like the Russia-Ukraine conflict and China-US ties, Zhao predicted.