Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth is the headline speaker at Asia’s premier defence summit being held from today till May 31, but China’s top officials are not expected, despite weighty questions like Taiwan and the war in Iran.

Defence Minister Dong Jun’s absence from Shangri-La Dialogue means no meeting there with Hegseth as China warns the US over its involvement with Taiwan and Washington seeks an end to the Middle East war.

Major General Meng Xiangqing of the National Defence University will lead the delegation, including scholars from the National Defence University, the Academy of Military Sciences and the Navy.

But like last year, Beijing again risked not having a senior leader present if the two most pertinent global security issues — Taiwan and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz — do come up.

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