Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun is set to skip the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore for the second year in a row, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Instead, China will send a lower-level People’s Liberation Army (PLA) delegation to Asia’s premier defence forum which will open on Friday and continue until Sunday, the sources said.

This year marks the 23rd edition of the Shangri-La Dialogue, which brings together defence ministers, military chiefs, diplomats and analysts to debate regional security challenges and hold bilateral meetings.

China’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment and has yet to announce its delegation for this year’s forum.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to deliver a speech covering Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Saturday.

The forum has long been regarded as a platform for Beijing to articulate its security positions and respond to concerns from other countries, particularly amid continued tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.