- One of the talking points so far has been how vocal the Chinese delegation has been from the floor. The blunt question put to Secretary Hagel is just one example; in every session so far, one representative from the PLA has put a polite but firm line.
- UK Defense Secretary Hammond suggested that Britain's territorial dispute with Spain over Gilbraltar could be used as an example of how to handle such disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea.
- Hammond's remarks about growing Chinese defence capabilities prompted a response from a PLA representative, who said that China's defence spending was, at 1.3%, much lower as a percentage of GDP than the US and UK. He also said China had never deployed Chinese combat troops overseas and had not been to war for 30 years.
- Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's speech was pretty dull, but as was pointed out on Twitter, the story was that Gusmao was there at all.
- Another talking point: the directness and sincerity of the Japanese Defence Minister's remarks about Japan's role in the Second World War. IISS analyst Mark Fitzpatrick tweeted about it, so I recorded this short interview with him to explore just why these remarks were significant:
[sound:mark_fitzpatrick.mp3]
