BEIJING: Dubbed the Davos of Defense, the three-day Munich Security Conference (MSC), which attracted heads of state, military officers, intelligence chiefs and top diplomats from around the world, concluded on Sunday with many calling for the end of the Ukraine crisis and a more balanced world order.
With war raging in Europe, Russia-Ukraine conflicts almost dominated discussions at the meeting. And as this year’s MSC invited a record number of representatives from Asian, African and Latin American countries, extra attention was also attached to the problems challenging them and their dissatisfaction with the existing global order.
Outside the meeting halls in Munich, around 10,000 anti-war demonstrators gathered on the streets, calling for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and a stop to providing military weapons to Ukraine. Some protesters carried Russian flags, expressing the anti-NATO and anti-America sentiment that has long bubbled in Germany, with some believing Europe is mired in the swamp of the Ukraine crisis under the pressure of the U.S.
Thousands of pacifists also held a rally in Washington, D.C. to demand that the U.S. stop providing military aid to Ukraine.
On the website of the demonstration organizer in Germany, it says that one of the purposes of the security meeting is to get NATO members to agree on anti-China and anti-Russian strategic goals, but the first thing that needs to be clarified is NATO’s military policy. They also said NATO’s eastward expansion is seen by Russia as a threat.
Questions regarding the current world order also surrounded the security meeting. French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged that the current global order is imbalanced and Western countries are rapidly losing the trust of the Global South.
According to a report released by the MSC before the conference, countries of the Global South have so far been confined to the role of “rule-takers” under the existing global order. Robert Dussey, Togo’s Foreign Minister, said that Africa should have their own position and vision.
The report urged efforts to re-envision the existing global order so that it can win the support of more countries.
At the meeting, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi reiterated China’s stance on peaceful development, calling for mutual trust to promote a safer world.
On the Ukraine crisis, Wang said China has “neither stood by idly nor thrown fuel on the fire” and will continue to call for peace and dialogue. He suggested that the West, especially European friends, think calmly about “what kind of efforts we can make to stop this war.”
–The Daily Mail-CGTN
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