The Munich Security conference took place from February 14th to February 16th, during which representatives from various countries discussed the dangers and challenges facing the world. One of the speakers at the forum was Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who shared the PRC’s perspective. In addition to his speech, Deutsche Welle obtained insights about the country’s viewpoint from Chinese military expert Zhou Bo.
One of the main topics of Wang Yi’s speech was the relations between the US and China – according to the Minister, despite Beijing not wanting a conflict with Washington, it would “play along to the end” and respond to the “unilateral bulling” if the country continues to suppress China. Zhou Bo stated that China, like the other countries, was expecting the American Vice President, JD Vance, to discuss the US- Chinese issue, but this was not the case.
Chinese Foreign Minister also underlined the topic of the Russia- Ukraine war and mentioned that all stakeholders should be included in the negotiations. According to him, China assesses every effort that is aimed at resolving the conflict peacefully and positively, including any consensus that the US and Russia reach. Bo said that China’s role in the resolution of this conflict is also evident in Donald Trump’s action to ask the country to join the process. In his opinion, China should be involved in creating a security guarantee for Ukraine and Russia. He also remarked that when it comes to reaching the ceasefire, “China and countries like China, [for example], India” will have an important role to play since Russia could see the peacemakers sent from other countries as aggression. One more way in which China can join the efforts is the reconstruction of Ukraine – “China can do this more quickly and at a low cost”.
Apart from the above-mentioned, the Minister talked about the EU and stated that China is ready to increase strategic communications with the bloc. Yi paid special attention to the cooperation with Germany during the meeting with Olaf Scholz and expressed hope that Germany would “continue playing a constructive role in resolving trade frictions and other issues between China and the EU as soon as possible”. This subject was discussed by Bo, too, who said that having bad relations with Europe is not in the interest of China.
