China was able to score diplomatically at the Munich Security Conference, my observer. A contrast to the behavior of the United States. Was that a pure charm offensive – or could it be concrete from it?
It was two years ago that China's top diplomat Wang Yi presented a plan for the Ukraine War at the security conference, which was interpreted as a supposed peace plan. However, nothing concrete was followed by Wang's plan to stop the bloodshed in Europe.
The Chinese Foreign Minister in Munich also spoke this year. And the head of the security conference, Christoph Heusgen, did not give up hope. He asked Wang whether China could not build pressure by buying less Russian oil. The response from the Foreign Minister was very clear: “If we did not buy oil from Russia, who can sell us so much oil that we can supply our people with oil? We have responsibility towards our people.”
“The best made of it – a friendly face”
The CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen has observed Wang's appearance: “Of course, Wang Yi felt the rejection in the hall. He also knows about Germany, the speech by US Vice President JD Vance, and he made the best of it-a friendly face.”
That apparently arrived. The newspaper South China Morning Post reported from Munich that the Ukrainian delegation rely on China as Russia's most important ally.
“Now we understand all of this much better”
Ukraine is economically interesting for the People's Republic: as a large source for agricultural products and as a customer of technology, including drone technology. “One should not forget that Chinese companies deliver to customers in many countries,” said Xu Qinduo, moderator of Chinese international television CGTN in Munich. “Who can check where the technology is used at the end? Possibly by the Russians, but also by the Ukrainians.”
According to Xus, the security conference is also a diplomatic success: “I believe that the Chinese government is now more sensitive to European security issues and understands it better. At the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine , why are the fear of Russia?
Aggressive US rhetoric an advantage for China?
According to South China Morning Post, Foreign Minister Wang of the EU foreign representative Kaja Kallas assures that his country supports “an important European role in peace negotiations”. In contrast, during the security conference, signals from the United States came that Europe would rather not have a place at the negotiating table. So advantage of the People's Republic – success for the charm offensive?
In any case, the Chinese participants could hardly have grown their luck on Munich attacks by US Vice President Vance to European democracies, Mikko Huotari, director of Merics from Berlin specializing in China:
Peking has done a lot right here. It is remarkable how little China could achieve with. There they signaled things like: We don't mix in your elections. That is a contrast to the USA. We want better trade relationships with the Spaniards, with the Germans. This is important. But at the same time it is correct: structurally nothing has changed in the matter.
Whether deeds follow remains unclear
That means: whether Beijing would actually intervene in the Ukraine War in the sense of the Europeans in the sense of the Europeans. Nothing concrete has never followed the announcements from Beijing.
It is also unclear whether China approaches the EU to get sanctions against dumping prices from the table built in China. These are disputes between Brussels and Beijing. With neighbors such as the Philippines, Beijing is also arguing about the rights in the South China Sea – Beijing is increasingly complaining about the waters important for international trade. Here the Chinese delegation participant Fu Ying – once deputy foreign minister – remained in Munich with a hard line.
The global south and China
The security conference also indicated in which direction China will look in: to the south. Example: Aminata Touré, formerly Prime Minister of Senegal. For them, the Chinese are the model: “We want to do exactly what they did because they were very poor not too long ago,” said Touré. China freed a billion people from poverty – “we want to do it that quickly in Africa”.
The aim is also to industrialize the African continent. “This is our message to China: it cannot be that you work with our raw materials. But we want you to work with us on industrialization. We don't want it to run again as with Europe: Our raw materials and goes, “says the politician.
However, the politician from Senegal does not impress that this has repeatedly happened in the Chinese African projects. Today a new, self -confident generation of politicians rule the African countries. She knows how important African raw materials are for China.
The role of the new Chinese AI models
So will China fill the gap when the Trump government stops American development aid? “We have another political system, which we have to work from the world,” said Professor Yao Yang from the renowned Beijing University in Munich. “We are currently protecting our own interests.” But Wang Huiyao, President of the government-related Thinktank Center for China and Globalization, is convinced: “With our new AI models like Deepseek, we reach the people in the global south.”
Mikko Huotari from Merics from Berlin also believes this: “The Chinese government perspective is built into these AI models. That is why it is unattractive for the G7 countries. But in the global south, it is more like that Chinese AI is free and open to everyone, While the Americans only want to participate in a few countries.
