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China’s FM Wang Yi spoke about the UN, the war between Ukraine and Russia, along with increasing tensions between China and Japan at the MSC.
Without the UN, the world “would revert to the rule of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak,” warned Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in opening comments to the Munich Security Conference.
Wang Yi also spoke about Ukraine, saying that “the door to dialogue is finally open,” while noting that “all parties concerned should seize the opportunity to reach a comprehensive, durable and binding peace agreement, remove the root causes of the conflict and bring lasting peace and stability in Europe.”
Yi went on: “China is not a party that is not directly involved – we do not have the final say – what we are doing is promoting talks for peace.”
However, Europe shouldn’t “watch this from the sidelines,” stated Yi, pointing to last year in Munich, when engagement with Russia began, but Europe seemed to be left watching on, “and I said then that since the conflict broke out here in Europe, Europe has every right to participate in the negotiations in due course,” Yi added.
Yi stated that Europe should not be “on the menu, but at the table,” and now “we see that Europe has found the courage to talk to Russia – this is good, and we support it.”
Addressing Europe next, Wang Yi was keen to note that “China and Europe are partners, not rivals.”
Yi said: “Today, the trade volume of a single day exceeds the total trade volume of the first year after we established diplomatic relations, so why should China suddenly be labeled a rival of the EU?”
Noting that this very negative way of thinking does no good to anyone, Yi warned: “We do not want to see the amplification of the so-called ‘systemic rival’ narrative, because it would be toxic for the future development of China-EU relations.”
Speaking of the current situation in the Asia-Pacific, the Foreign Minister didn’t see the situation becoming increasingly tense: “In today’s world, Asia is probably the only region that maintains overall peace,” Yi pointed out.
However, the Japanese Prime Minister publicly stated that a Taiwan contingency could “constitute a survival-threatening situation that might trigger the use of collective self-defence.”
Yii noted that this was the first time in 80 years that a Japanese Prime Minister had made such remarks, adding that it: “Directly violates China’s territorial sovereignty and directly challenges the fact that Taiwan has been returned to China – it completely violates Japan’s commitments to China – so could China accept such provocation? No – no Chinese person could accept it.”
Taking the MSC through a brief period of history, Yi said that: “After WW2, Germany conducted a thorough reckoning with Nazi crimes and passed laws banning speech and actions that promote Nazi ideology – but Japan still pays homage to Class A war criminals, and they are enshrined as so-called ‘heroic spirits.’”
According to Yi, this means that Japan has lingering ambitions for invasion and colonialism of Taiwan, and the goats of militarism are still haunting the country: “The lessons of history are not far behind us.”
Yi said in closing: “Every country that values peace should shout this loud and clear at Japan right now,” adding: “If you go back down that old road, it will be a dead end – but if you try gambling again, the loss will be faster and more devastating.”
