Defense spending, China, Ukraine: Shangri-La Dialogue 2026 takeaways
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – MAY 29: Police officers patrol during the 23rd IISS Shangri-La Dialogue at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore on May 29, 2026. Senior defense officials and military leaders from the Asia-Pacific and beyond are gathering at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore for the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue, one of Asia’s leading intergovernmental security forums. (Photo: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
Ezra Acayan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Defense spending, China’s position in the Asia-Pacific region and lessons learned from Ukraine were just some of the topics highlighted at this year’s IISS Shangri-La Dialogue.
The summit brings together top world leaders, defense officials and senior executives in Singapore from May 29-31.
Here are some of our key takeaways:
defense spending
Countries seem to have generally accepted the idea that they should spend more on their own defence. like nations Japan, the Philippines and the Netherlands plan to increase allocations there.
Countries should spend at least 3.5 percent of their GDP on defense, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Saturday. Even countries such as New Zealand, which fell below the 3.5 percent limit, are increasing their spending in this area.
US President Donald Trump has pushed for the idea for years, and it was initially met with consternation by many countries. Many are now embracing this, at least publicly.
In fact, Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said that the USA was “right” to ask countries to spend more and stated that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had changed the calculus in the Dutch public opinion in this direction.
“No country can do this alone,” said Gen. Jennie Carignan, Canada’s chief of defense staff. “Having the ability to come together in a way that complements each other’s talents is incredibly important,” he said, “but you have to have your own defenses to do that.”
China sends a low-level delegation again
Even before the summit began, much was said about China not sending its defense minister to the forum for the second year in a row.
The Beijing delegation was led by Major General Meng Xiangqing from the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University.
Dong Jun’s absence was visibly felt, with Hegseth saying: “I wish my colleague was here at this conference, but I look forward to other options once our paths cross and we can communicate.”
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said: He was “saddened” that Dong was not at the conference and called for more dialogue with Beijing.
Others, such as German defense chief General Carsten Breuer, said China had lost the chance for dialogue because it did not have a ministerial delegation.
The Philippines “as a value proposition,” national defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro told CNBC [China’s] “The presence here has been reduced to a minimum… which means supporting the party line rather than engaging constructively, so for me that’s no big loss.”
Traded thorns
But a lower-level delegation did not prevent Chinese delegates from strongly defending their position.
During her session at the dialogue, Meng took aim at increases in Japan’s defense spending and arms sales, and asked whether countries in Asia would count on remilitarization after Tokyo’s actions in World War II.
Even former officials on the delegation were harsh, such as former vice foreign minister Cui Tiankai, who defended Beijing’s stance that cross-strait tensions are a matter of territorial integrity and national unity for China.
“No one cares as much about the stability of the Taiwan Strait as China does, because both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese territory.”
But it wasn’t a one-way street. Japan’s Koizumi accused the Chinese of a “lack of transparency” in their military build-up, and the US’s Hegseth warned Beijing of “justified alarm” in the Asia-Pacific region over China’s military build-up.
Manila’s Teodoro struck the most combative tone, saying China’s expansionism continues unabated. “They are unrepentant and unyielding in their expansionism, and to deny this would be absolutely dishonest,” he said.
Lessons from Ukraine
Ukraine still resonates strongly in the international community, and the methods of warfare used are being watched by all countries as Ukraine struggles against invasion by the larger, better-resourced Russia. This concept of “asymmetric warfare” reshaped defense strategy globally.
“There’s a very intense interest in Ukraine and the lessons from the Ukrainian environment, which is a kind of understanding that initial asymmetric deterrence and asymmetric combat is an important thing,” former Ukrainian foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin told CNBC in an interview.
“What is at stake in this war is the whole sense of security, whether or not we have any security architecture in Europe and around Europe, which includes Ukraine, and how to fix that in the future security architecture,” Klimkin said. he said.
Countries such as the Philippines are following Ukraine’s tactics as they increase defense spending, and Dutch defense chief Gen. Onno Eichelsheim said they were working with Ukrainian advisers to assess what was and was not useful in allocating resources.
