The Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's top international defence summit, kicks off in the city-state on Friday.

The meeting has historically offered rare opportunities for senior officials to hold face-to-face talks, and will be attended by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this year.

But Hegseth's Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, will not be in attendance, with Beijing's defence ministry saying at a Thursday news conference it would send a delegation of "experts and scholars" instead.

Major General Meng Xiangqing of the National Defense University will lead the delegation, and other members will include experts and scholars from the National Defense University, the Academy of Military Sciences and the Navy, ministry spokesman Jiang Bin told reporters on Thursday.

"China attaches great importance to defence and security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region," Jiang said.

Beijing "consistently upholds the principles of openness and inclusiveness, and actively participates in various constructive dialogues", he added.

"The experts and scholars dispatched for this visit will comprehensively articulate China's concepts and initiatives, striving to enhance mutual trust, dispel doubts, build consensus, and deepen cooperation."

This will be the second year Dong will skip the summit.

Dong's absence from the forum last year came after reports in 2024 said he had been placed under investigation for corruption, something Chinese authorities have dismissed as "pure fabrications".

Beijing organises its own defence summit, the Xiangshan Forum, considered China's answer to the Shangri-La meeting.