With the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue over, China’s decision not to send Defense Minister Dong Jun became a news story in its own right, shifting much of the outside world’s attention from the regional security conference itself to why China snubbed the event, as it did last year. The decision is a sign of China’s confidence in its own power—and its desire to avoid direct public confrontation with the United States. China first began participating in the in 2007. Until 2018, China was mostly