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ChinaMilitary

Did China’s top general just signal a restart in Beijing’s military diplomacy?

  • Zhang Youxia, China’s most senior military officer, met Serbia’s defence chief in a sign the country’s military diplomacy could be normalising
  • Chinese Defence Minister General Li Shangfu disappeared from public view almost two months ago

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China’s Central Military Commission’s first vice-chairman, General Zhang Youxia (right), meets Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Milos Vucevic on Tuesday in Beijing. Photo: Handout
Sylvie Zhuangin Beijing
China’s most senior military officer, General Zhang Youxia, has met his Serbian counterpart in Beijing, in a sign that China’s top-level military diplomacy may have resumed almost two months after the country’s defence minister disappeared from public view.
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The meeting came after China’s defence minister and top military diplomat, General Li Shangfu, went missing without explanation in late August, leaving China’s military diplomacy up in the air.

A vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), Zhang is the first senior military officer to host a foreign guest since Li last did so on August 29.

Zhang, who sits on the 24-member Politburo, the party’s decision-making body, was the only Chinese military official to meet with foreign representatives during the two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, which wrapped up on Wednesday.

The previously delayed diplomatic meeting was held just days before the country’s top legislative body begins its bimonthly meeting on Friday. The gathering of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee will approve personnel appointments and dismissals, according to an agenda made public, which offers a window for a possible change of defence minister.

The NPC meeting comes just days before China’s flagship regional security talks – the Xiangshan Forum, a three-day event held at the end of October – which observers believe could signal a major thaw in US-China military communications, as well as see the debut of a new defence minister. China’s defence chief would usually host the Xiangshan Forum, giving a keynote speech and meeting delegates.
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Zhang, China’s No 2 military official, met Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Milos Vucevic on Tuesday in Beijing, according to a readout published on China’s defence ministry’s website on Wednesday.

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Security tight in Chinese capital as foreign leaders arrive for Belt and Road Forum in Beijing

Security tight in Chinese capital as foreign leaders arrive for Belt and Road Forum in Beijing
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