'A Coup de Dialogue'

How three events in the Asia-Pacific last week illustrate the deepening divergence in the imagination and architecture of the future world

The deepening divergence of geopolitical and multilateral roadmaps could not have been better illustrated than by three events in Asia last week.

Let’s start in the south. Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD), Asia’s annual security summit (May 30–June 1), is typically attended by defense ministers, senior officials, and military chiefs from Asia-Pacific states, along with guests from across the globe. This year, however, the event was seemingly hijacked by Washington, Brussels, and Paris, who used the platform to push their own strategic agendas and geopolitical views.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivered a speech steeped in America’s warrior and militarization ethos, casting China as a potential imminent threat, urging Asian allies to raise their defense spending, and even—remarkably—comparing the leadership styles of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew and U.S. President Donald Trump. (Yes, that really happened.) He asserted that the United States—as an "Indo-Pacific nation" (?)—has no plans to leave the region. In his words, “I'm going to keep coming back and back and back again. You're stuck with me but it's not just me, America is proud to be back in the Indo-Pacific and we're here to stay. The United States is a Indo-Pacific nation”.

Channel News Asia: Shangri-La Dialogue 2025: Pete Hegseth urges Asian allies to up defence spending amid China "threat"

While Hegseth suggested in his speech that Europe should concentrate its defense efforts on its own continent, EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas flatly rejected this notion, insisting that the EU has both a role and responsibility to play in Asia. She described China and Russia as today’s greatest global challenges.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron, the event’s keynote speaker, warned China that NATO could become increasingly involved in Asia if it does not pressure North Korea to refrain from supporting Russia.

Macron also delivered a veiled warning to Asian countries: if Russia is allowed to seize part of Ukraine without opposition, it could set a precedent for what might happen in Asia—namely, Taiwan. He argued that if the U.S. and Europe fail to resolve the war in Ukraine, their credibility in managing any crisis in the Indo-Pacific would be severely diminished. He also called for consistency in condemning conflict and urged global leaders to uphold a rules-based order in the face of escalating wars around the world.

Finally, resembling Hegseth’s Indo-Pacific rhetoric, Macron made the ‘proud’ case for France also being an Indo-Pacific player—citing its overseas territories (colonial legacies?) to justify French presence in Asia today.

Channel News Asia: French President Emmanuel Macron’s keynote address at 2025 Shangri-la Dialogue | Full speech

EU Debates: Kaja Kallas: EU's Unwavering Support for Singapore Amid Global Tensions | Shangri-La Dialogue 2025

China did not send Defense Minister Dong Jun to this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue. Instead, a delegation from the National Defense University attended the forum in Singapore. Unsurprisingly, China firmly rejected accusations portraying it as an imminent threat or challenge—and strongly objected to President Macron’s comparison of the Ukraine conflict with the Taiwan issue.

‘A Coup de Dialogue’

The security dialogue was effectively dominated—or rather hijacked—by Western leaders from the United States and Europe. It turned into a coup de dialogue, as they forcefully—and disrespectfully—imposed their own agendas in someone else’s home, portraying China as a threat in the very backyard of their hosts.

Could one even imagine a Chinese—or any Asian—leader portraying Washington or Brussels in such aggressive terms at the Munich Security Conference? Or for that matter, an Asian official delivering the keynote speech in Munich?

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Meanwhile, just 350–400 km to the north—a 4.5-hour drive—Kuala Lumpur hosted the first-ever ASEAN–GCC–China Summit last week Tuesday (May 27), held in conjunction with the 46th ASEAN Summit. The ten members of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), six members of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), and the People’s Republic of China came together to explore deeper trilateral cooperation amid growing global economic uncertainty.

In his opening remarks, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim noted that the three regions collectively represent a GDP of nearly $25 trillion and a market of over 2 billion people—offering, in his words, “vast opportunities to synergize our markets, deepen innovation, and promote cross-regional investment.” He added: “By strengthening collaboration in these areas, we can lay the foundation for stable, resilient, and sustainable growth.”

Asean, GCC, China can build a more connected, resilient future, says Anwar

In addition to the leaders of the ASEAN nations, the summit was attended by Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah—the current president of the GCC Supreme Council—China’s Premier Li Qiang, ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn, Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan, and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, along with their respective delegations.

Picture credit: China Daily

The summit concluded with a joint statement that included shared acknowledgments and commitments to explore deeper cooperation in several key areas—economic integration, infrastructure connectivity, energy security and stability, digital transformation and innovation, food and agriculture, and people-to-people exchange.

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Third stop: about 2,500 kilometers to the northeast—a 4-hour flight to Hong Kong.

Last week Friday (May 30), Hong Kong hosted the signing ceremony of the Convention on the Establishment of the International Organization for Mediation (IOMed), marking the conclusion of the Global Forum on International Mediation. The ceremony was presided over by China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi.

Thirty-three countries, including China, Indonesia, Serbia, Cambodia, and Pakistan, jointly signed the Convention as founding members. In addition, more than 50 countries and nearly 20 international organizations, including the United Nations (UN), sent delegations to attend the ceremony.

Video credit: South China Morning Post

The establishment of the International Organization for Mediation (IOMed) seeks to address a critical gap in international dispute and conflict resolution. For decades, such settlements have been dominated by Western-centric judicial and arbitral mechanisms, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which often impose rigid, winner-takes-all outcomes. These approaches frequently fail to account for the nuanced interests, as well as the historical, cultural, political, and other contextual factors, of all parties involved.

In accordance with Article 33 of the UN Charter—which encourages the peaceful settlement of international disputes through negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, or other peaceful means—mediation has long been overlooked in favor of arbitration and judicial processes.

The International Organization for Mediation (IOMed) is not intended to replace any existing institutions. On the contrary, it aims to complement and enhance current mechanisms—such as litigation and arbitration—by contributing to a more comprehensive and diversified system for resolving international disputes. Crucially, it offers greater potential for peaceful outcomes.

As the world’s first intergovernmental international legal organization dedicated solely to mediation, IOMed advocates for the amicable and peaceful settlement of international disputes. It seeks to foster more harmonious international relations and promote an inclusive, pluralistic legal culture grounded in the rule of law.

The organization’s headquarters will be located in Hong Kong, at the site of the former Wan Chai Police Station, once the renovation of this Grade 2 historic building is completed.

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While the latter two events went largely unnoticed in European and American media, the limited coverage of the Shangri-La Dialogue that did surface focused almost exclusively on 'the coup'—that moment when Western leaders seized Asia’s premier security forum to advance their own agendas of deterrence and fearmongering on the Asia-Pacific stage.

Of course Western media didn’t call it a coup...

Yet in the broader picture, the significance of the ASEAN–GCC–China Summit and the inauguration of the International Organization for Mediation (IOMed) is far from marginal. These events are not mere diplomatic side notes; they are critical stepping stones in the ongoing—and inevitable—shift toward a new world order, reshaping global cooperation in the 21st century.

The ASEAN–GCC–China Summit brings together three enduring civilizations—Southeast Asia, the Arabian Gulf, and China—long disrupted and separated, now reconnecting.

The IOMed embodies a different philosophy and approach of conflict resolution: one grounded in inclusiveness, context, and dialogue.

Together with other developments in recent years, these initiatives signal a clear departure from decades of Atlanticist-centered frameworks and worldviews, privileging consensus over coercion, trade over tariffs, harmony over deterrence, and resilience over rivalry. Though still developing—fragile, and often drowned out by louder narratives of conflict and competition—they illuminate a path forward. It is one of “crossing the river by feeling the stones” (摸着石头过河): deliberate, adaptive, rooted in mutual respect, regional agency, and a deeper awareness of historical and cultural context.

Last week’s events across the Asia-Pacific made one thing crystal clear: a deepening divergence in worldviews—and in how the future is being imagined and managed. The contrast between confrontational posturing and cooperative mechanisms could not be sharper.

Western observers and participants would do well not to misread the silence, restraint, or apparent accommodation of many Asian nations during the Shangri-La Dialogue as mere diplomacy. Their role as graceful hosts and institutional caretakers, even when the event is hijacked, reflects long-held cultural reflexes—listening, observing, absorbing—rather than reacting on cue. These are not passive actors, but careful custodians of their own interests, histories, and futures.

As Tang poet Wang Wei (王维, 699-759 CE) wrote in his poem 鹿柴 (Lù Zhài – “Deer Enclosure”) :

人闲桂花落，夜静春山空。
月出惊山鸟，时鸣春涧中。

When people are still, osmanthus flowers fall.
The quiet night—spring mountains are empty.
Moonrise startles the mountain birds;
from time to time, they sing in the brook.

A masterclass in poetic stillness, the poem reveals how silence (the absence of noise) allows one to hear what truly matters—the sound of flowers falling, birdsong in moonlight, the pulse of nature. It expresses the idea that silence is not emptiness, but a condition in which the subtle, the meaningful, and the authentic can emerge.

In a world often loud with statements and demands, sometimes it is silence that speaks most clearly—not of passivity, but of a different rhythm, a different kind of power. And sometimes, it speaks of something else entirely: the quiet, deliberate act of building a different path, on one’s own terms, shaping a future with agency and purpose.

The louder and sharper the voices become, the more persistent—and determined—silence grows in charting its own course.

In this light, might it have been the immaculate art of ‘allowing a coup’—quietly staged by the seemingly unseated silence, leaving the loud and forceful ‘presumed plotters’ behind in the wake of their own pyrrhic victory?

June 7, 2025

Gordon Dumoulin

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