For the second time in a row, no representative of the leadership of the Russian Federation participated in the Security Conference in Munich. Last year, there was an invitation in the name of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who decided not to attend, a gesture that at the time was interpreted as a signal that the decision to launch the Russian invasion of Ukraine had already been made. Unlike previous years, Iranian officials and representatives of the extremist party “Alternative for Germany” were excluded from the list of guests. Over 450 decision-makers from around the world were invited to this year’s edition, including 40 heads of state or government, ministers, international personalities, representatives of non-governmental organizations and the business environment, journalists, and university professors.

China’s Wang Yi says Beijing will try to broker peace talks with Ukraine.

For the first time since the outbreak of COVID, China was represented in Munich at a high level this year, in the form of its most senior diplomat, former Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Wang told the audience that China had tried and would continue to try to broker peace talks with Ukraine. He alluded to the conference’s official 2023 motto, “peace through dialogue,” and seemed to imply Beijing was more committed to this than some others at the summit.”There were multiple rounds of peace talks.” And we saw a framework text on the peaceful resolution of the crisis. However, that was stopped. We do not know why. The process was cut short. Some forces might not want to see peace talks materialize. “They don’t care about the life and death of Ukrainians, nor the harm to Europe; they might have strategic goals larger than Ukraine itself.” Wang did not say which nations or groups he might mean by “some forces,” but many other comments in his speech appeared to be directed at the US without naming it. He had earlier said that while “disagreements do exist between countries,” the way he handled them in his speech appeared to be directed at the US without naming it. He had earlier said that while “disagreements do exist between countries,” handling them with “pressuring, smear campaigns, or unilateral sanctions is often counterproductive.” Wang also used the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to say that “for a safer world, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected,” going on to draw a parallel with tensions with Taiwan and accusing some countries he did not name of “double standards.” In his introductory remarks, Wang said that COVID had shown how the world was “one global village” and could only “win victory when we trust each other.” “Three years on, the pandemic is contained, but the world is not yet safer,” Wang said. “Trust between major countries is lacking.” Geopolitical rifts are widening. The Cold War mentality is back. “New types of security threats, from energy, food, climate, bio-security, and artificial intelligence, keep emerging.”

By Sara Colin