SINGAPORE -- The Shangri-La Dialogue 2026, Asia's premier defense and security summit, opened on Friday in Singapore amid growing geopolitical tensions.

The three-day event, which focuses on major security challenges facing the region, is expected to bring together more than 550 delegates from over 40 countries and regions.

The Chinese delegation is expected to elaborate on its vision for common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security.

Vietnamese President To Lam will deliver the keynote address, while US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to deliver a speech on the country's strategy for peace in the Indo-Pacific.

This year's dialogue takes place against a backdrop of expanding military activities, rising bloc confrontation and growing spillover effects from conflicts beyond the region.

In this context, the China-proposed Global Security Initiative (GSI), which advocates dialogue, multilateralism and practical cooperation, is gaining increasing relevance amid growing calls for peace and stability in the region.

BLOC POLITICS STOKE REGIONAL TENSIONS

According to the organizer's outline agenda, discussions during the dialogue will focus on issues ranging from regional tensions and cross-regional security threats to maritime security.

Analysts say regional tensions in the Asia-Pacific region have increasingly been driven by bloc politics and intensified military activities.

In recent years, the United States has continued to strengthen its alliance system in the region, deepen military coordination with allies, and instigate bloc confrontation.

Meanwhile, Japan has sent troops to participate in joint military exercises and launched offensive missiles overseas for the first time after World War II, in a deliberate attempt to break the "exclusively defense-oriented policy."

The Philippines, on its part, is seeking external forces to embolden itself in its infringements and provocations in the South China Sea, while attempting to shift blame onto China.

The deployment of military forces and the increase in security activities have negatively affected the building of trust in the region, as well as regional stability and the security architecture in which ASEAN serves as the core of regional and inter-regional cooperation, said Seun Sam, a policy analyst at the Royal Academy of Cambodia.

The ASEAN-centered regional security framework is a concept of great importance, and non-regional countries should, in principle, respect it, noted Kiyoshi Sugawa, a senior research fellow at the East Asian Community Institute of Japan.

If military competition in the region continues to intensify, it could deepen strategic mistrust and increase the risk of miscalculation, warned Tharakorn Wusatirakul, president of the BRI Institute of Research Development on Economic and Education in Thailand.

He stressed that peace, cooperation and mutual trust should remain the core principles of the regional security architecture.

CROSS-REGIONAL SECURITY THREATS

Another major topic scheduled to feature at this year's dialogue is the growing impact of conflicts beyond the Asia-Pacific on regional security.

The latest US-Iran tensions have highlighted rising cross-regional security challenges, as the conflict has generated spillover effects across global energy markets, maritime shipping routes and supply chains.

More importantly, the conflict is prompting many small and medium-sized countries to question whether the current international security system can still safeguard regional stability and the interests of smaller states, said Tang Shi Xuan, a researcher at the Huayan Policy Institute under the Malaysia-based think tank Center for Malaysian Chinese Studies. Such concerns could further weaken US credibility and influence across parts of the Global South, he added.

Recent military interventions by certain major powers have destabilized regions and undermined the broader international security order, according to Virdika Rizky Utama, executive director of the Jakarta-based think tank PARA Syndicate.

Such actions often prioritize narrow national interests while prolonging conflicts, weakening sovereignty and creating humanitarian crises, he said.

CHINA'S SECURITY VISION DRAWS EXPECTATIONS

As global security risks intensify, many observers are increasingly looking to the China-proposed GSI for answers to mounting uncertainty in the region.

Since its inception in 2022, the GSI has won support from more than 130 countries and regions as well as international organizations.

"I see the support as a clear sign of the GSI's growing influence. Such broad endorsement shows that the initiative speaks to a genuine global need for a more balanced and cooperative approach to security," Utama said.

Kin Phea, director general of the International Relations Institute of Cambodia under the Royal Academy of Cambodia, described the GSI as distinct from traditional alliance-based approaches because it emphasizes reducing strategic confrontation and promoting dialogue-based security cooperation.

The GSI highlights political consultation, economic connectivity and shared development as foundations for long-term stability, he noted.

Sam viewed China as having demonstrated global leadership without resorting to military force to suppress others. Instead, he noted, China has acted as a mediator and facilitator between conflicting parties by promoting dialogue and seeking win-win solutions.

At a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty and fragmentation, China's security vision could potentially contribute to building a more balanced and inclusive system of global security governance, said Victor Teo, a senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore.