New Delhi, Aug. 22 -- JAKARTA - China has never done this before, not with Russia, not with Pakistan, not with any country. The ministerial format Beijing unveiled on Thursday in Jakarta - a joint foreign and defense dialogue bringing together both countries' foreign ministers and both defense ministers at a single table - is the first mechanism of its kind China has established anywhere in the world. Beijing chose Indonesia for the debut.

The meeting convened Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Defense Minister Admiral Dong Jun alongside their Indonesian counterparts, Foreign Minister Sugiono and Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin. Wang Yi left the meeting and told reporters it was "the first ministerial-level '2+2' mechanism China h...