This live blog has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing.
The Chinese capital is this week hosting the country’s most important annual defence conference, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum.
More than 100 defence officials, including participants from the United States, Russia, the European Union and Southeast Asia, are expected to attend the event.
Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun is addressing the forum.
Reporting by Zhao Ziwen and Dewey Sim
