Is the Shangri-La Dialogue facing a quarter-life crisis?

Should any foreign policy observer make the mistake of sitting beside me at this week’s Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) and asking rhetorically – as they always do – what good comes out of such “talkshops” and what “babies” they have borne, they might get an unexpected reply.

Three years ago, when I was 34 weeks pregnant, I caught Covid-19 for the first time at that annual gathering of defence chiefs, security officials and global affairs intelligentsia. Shortly after, I went into labour and had my daughter.