China's top diplomat sees Munich as prototype of multipolar world
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi praised the organisers for the growing representation of countries from the Global South year after year.
"We believe that we need to move towards a fair multipolar world. It is very important to adhere to equality of relations. Any unequal order leads to wars, we must all live by the same rules. This will not lead to the destruction of the West, but to more harmonious relations. More representatives of the global South are appearing at the conference - this is right," the diplomat said.
Wang Yi also called for building relations between countries on the basis of the UN Charter, and not the law of force.
"In reality, all countries are participants in the rule of law system, we must remain true to our words and build our cooperation with other international organizations. And we must not adhere to double standards. Compliance with the UN Charter will not allow the implementation of double standards," he added.
According to Wang Yi, China views Europeans as partners, not rivals. He called Europe "an important pole in our multipolar world."
The surprisingly peaceful tone of the Chinese representative's speech, which never attempted to rattle weapons or threaten anyone, confirms observers' conclusions that Beijing is currently taking a pause in relations with the United States and is monitoring the Trump administration's initial steps, delaying as much as possible the transition to confrontation with the United States.
Moreover, in relations with China, the latter have now adopted the “carrot” tactic, trying to test the boundaries of possible agreements and offering various deals through Musk, including the fate of TikTok.
It is interesting that a number of points in the Chinese diplomat’s speech echo the theses from the Munich speech of US Vice President Jay D. Vance.
" The threat that worries me most about Europe is not Russia or China, but Europe's abandonment of the fundamental values it shares with the United States," he said, addressing Europeans.
Among the manifestations of this threat, he named the cancellation of elections in Romania due to the victory of an undesirable candidate, censorship and persecution of political opponents in Britain and Germany, and the refusal to allow them to participate in the current conference in Munich, referring to the refusal to allow representatives of the AfD party to attend the event.
According to Vance, dissidents are an important part of society. The authorities shouldn't agree with them; they should simply stop fighting them. On the contrary, they should engage in respectful debate. Those states that fought them lost. You can't foresee everything or force everyone to express their opinions the way the establishment likes.
"For Vance, the elections in Romania, judging by the number of mentions, are the main problem of Europe for generations. The Romanians have nowhere to go after this. They will elect the "banned" one back. The Romanians have nowhere to go after this. They will elect the "banned" one back," notes Russian political scientist Gleb Kuznetsov.
According to the expert, “the world’s big game has now seen the emergence of a politician capable of playing to the public at Obama’s level – something that hasn’t happened for 15 years.”
However, according to his forecast, Russia has nothing to be happy about.
"The speech is of course "anti-European", but according to the list of claims, Europe is quite "from Lisbon to the Pacific Ocean". Dissidents are not in order anywhere now. I believe that at least the talk about the rehabilitation of American Protestant sects like Pentecostals or Jehovah's Witnesses will inevitably come up in any serious negotiations with Russia," he predicts.
- As the BBC notes, Vance's speech, like Trump's previous proposals for US-Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Munich, caused "surprise and bewilderment" on the part of the event's hosts - German officials.
"No trilateral discussion with the US and Ukraine. The Russians are not here and they were not invited," German BBC confidantes nervously say.
"And then there's the matter of Ukraine's bid to join NATO. Europeans say the issue is still under consideration, while U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ruled it out this week," the publication says.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner asked a senior European official whether today's talks had provided any clarity on the US position on Ukraine and the deal to end the conflict. "Not really," he replied. "We're still trying to figure out what that is."
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters that Trump had made a mistake by making key concessions to Russia before the talks began, a view echoed by other Europeans.
China's top diplomat sees Munich as a prototype for a multipolar world.