Delegations from nearly 100 countries, regions, int'l organizations are in Beijing for Xiangshan Forum

Delegations from nearly 100 countries, regions and international organizations have gathered in Beijing for the 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum, which is set to take place from Tuesday to Thursday.

A military spokesman told the press on Monday that all preparatory work had been completed, and representatives from various countries were arriving in Beijing.

Themed "Build Consensus on Stability, Advance Security Governance Together", this year's Xiangshan Forum will focus on the prominent and pressing major challenges currently facing the international security landscape.

The three-day event will feature four plenary sessions and eight parallel sessions. It will also host closed-door seminars on sensitive topics, including the Ukraine crisis and issues in the Middle East.

"The entire event, as I counted, consists of 38 sessions, all centered around this theme, specifically two key words: stability and governance. I think the primary focus will be on strategic stability in relations between major powers. There will also be a parallel panel discussion on sea lane security and maritime security governance. Another session of great interest is the one on risks and challenges posed by military applications of emerging technologies," said Li Shuyin, director of the Beijing Xiangshan Forum Secretariat Office.

Launched in 2006 as a "track-two" think-tank exchange, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum has evolved into a vital international public good, offering a space for equal dialogue and joint efforts toward global peace.

Both Chinese and international participants have expressed high expectations for this year's edition.

"[I have attended] eight [editions of the] forum. This time, I have very high expectations. Now, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum is 20 years old, so we want more focused and more advanced debates on the things. And since the world relations right now are not very good, so we want more proactive roles from China in the world affairs," said Adeel Khan, a visiting professor from the National Defense University of Pakistan.

"As the host, we look to build trust and dispel doubts through equal dialogue, and improve the global security governance system to allow countries in different regions, with different political systems, and at different development stages to participate and speak out, so as to build a consensus on stability through exchanges and mutual learning, and jointly safeguard world peace and development," said Li Fei, director of the office of the China Association for Military Science.

The U.S. dollar strengthened in late trading on Monday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, added 0.27 percent to 99.388 at 15:00. (1900 GMT).

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1557 dollars from 1.1596 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.3511 dollars from 1.3525 dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 154.05 Japanese yen, higher than 153.72 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar was down to 0.8163 from 0.8166 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.3902 from 1.3865 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar rose to 9.7412 from 9.7044 Swedish kronor.