Wang defends ties with Russia, warns West about Taiwan ‘red line’
Foreign minister argues Beijing is bastion of stability in turbulent world
Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave a forceful defence of Beijing’s ties with Russia and warned the West not to cross red lines on Taiwan, during a combative speech at the Munich Security Conference yesterday.
At a gathering dominated by the prospect of a US retreat from the international stage under a second Donald Trump presidency, Wang pitched Beijing as a reliable actor.
“No matter how the world changes, China is a responsible major country that will keep its major principles and policies consistent and stable … In a turbulent world China will be a force for stability,” he said.
But – just a day after Wang met his US counterpart Antony Blinken – there were also thinly veiled swipes at the United States and a rejection of a direct request for China to rein in Russia two years into its Ukraine invasion.
On Ukraine, Wang said China had been “working relentlessly to promote peace and peace talks”, but there were “not ripe conditions in place for parties to go back to the negotiating table”.
Countering criticism of Beijing’s close ties with Moscow, Wang said they were based on “no alliances, no confrontation and not targeting any third party”.
European leaders have frequently pointed to President Xi Jinping’s regular contacts with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin since the start of the war, compared with his single telephone talk with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. They say Beijing has sent a delegate to only one of a series of Kyivbacked peace talks.
But Wang said Xi had “in-depth exchanges with world leaders including Russian and
Ukrainian leaders” and China’s special envoy, Li Hui, had “travelled intensively to mediate among different parties”.
Wang laughed when moderator and conference chairman Christoph Heusgen asked if Beijing would accept a “code of conduct for the South China Sea”, given the threats to navigation and “risky encounters” in the disputed waters and the Taiwan Strait – as well as the Red Sea.
“The Taiwan question cannot be compared with what’s happening in the Red Sea. The Taiwan question is China’s internal affair … Taiwan is a part of China. It has never been a country,” Wang said.
Turning to the Middle East, he called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, continuing a bid to present Beijing as leader of the Global South.
“Efforts should be made towards a two-state solution. Only when that is realised can the state of Palestine and the state of Israel live in peace, and with assurance from the international community, can enduring security be enjoyed by Israel,” Wang said.
He dismissed concerns about the Chinese economy and warned those considering “de-risking” that “the world economy is like a big ocean that cannot be cut into isolated lakes”.
“Those who attempt to shut China out in the name of de-risking will make a historical mistake,” Wang said, adding that the “global economy was weighed down by protectionism”.
Asked about fresh allegations of forced labour in the western region of Xinjiang that have prompted big German companies BASF and Volkswagen to reassess their presence there, he gave the claims short shrift.
“We have seen so much fabricated information from different parties,” Wang said. “The so-called forced labour is only a groundless accusation.”
He invited conference attendees to go to Xinjiang, saying it was “open to all that are interested to visit”.
European diplomats in Beijing have declined invitations to the region because they were not allowed to meet detained members of the Uygur community.
Wang’s midday appearance on the second day of the annual gathering in Munich, billed the “Davos of Defence”, followed addresses by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Zelensky.
Amid concerns that a returning Trump would abandon Kyiv if he won the presidential election in November, Zelensky invited the former US leader to Ukraine to see the “real war”.
“If Mr Trump will come, I am ready to go with him to the front line,” he said.
On Friday, in a whirlwind of diplomacy in the Bavarian city, Wang sat down with his counterparts from Britain, the European Union and the US.
After the Wang-Blinken meeting, both sides issued statements that were markedly more conciliatory than a year earlier when the pair met in Munich amid a row over a Chinese balloon in American airspace.
Speaking on the Munich stage after Wang, Blinken said: “We have an obligation to manage that relationship responsibly, and I think that’s something that we hear from countries around the world.”
In separate talks with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, Wang urged Britain to “properly handle differences and conflicts, and push China-UK relations back to the right track”, according to a Chinese foreign ministry account.
Cameron raised “a number of areas of disagreement, including on human rights in Xinjiang and Hong Kong”, a readout from London on the meeting said.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised concerns over Taiwan, China-US trade and reported profiling of Chinese citizens in the United States during his meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Munich.
“The two sides should insist on following the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation, and actively explore the right way for the two major countries to get along,” Wang said during talks on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, adding that Washington should view China’s development “objectively and rationally”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
On Taiwan, one of the core points of contention between the two, Wang said Washington should “put into practice its statement of non-support for ‘Taiwan independence’”.
“Taiwan is part of China’s territory, and this is the true status quo of the Taiwan issue,” he said.
“If the US side truly wants stability in the Taiwan Strait, it should abide by the one-China principle and the three joint communiqués of China and the United States, and put into practice its statement of non-support for ‘Taiwan independence’.”
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. The US, like most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but it opposes any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with arms.
The US Senate this month passed a US$95 billion package of military aid to Taiwan, Israel and Ukraine. But right-wing Republicans in the House of Representatives indicated that they would block it.
In his meeting with Blinken, Wang also urged Washington to lift sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals as the US calls for a “de-risking” strategy targeting China.
“Turning ‘de-risking’ into ‘de-China’, building ‘small yards and high walls’ will eventually backfire on the United States,” Wang said, warning that Washington should not harm China’s “legitimate development rights and interests”.
Hundreds of Chinese firms are on Washington’s trade blacklist. Earlier this month, the Pentagon labelled more than a dozen Chinese tech firms as “military companies” that posed a national security threat to the US.
Wang also urged Washington to “stop harassing and checking Chinese nationals for no reason” in response to reports that American immigration authorities had inquired about the political backgrounds and research projects of a number of Chinese students. Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at least eight students with legally valid documents had been “harassed, questioned and repatriated” by the US.
During Friday’s meeting, Blinken raised concerns about China’s support for Russia’s defence industry and its war against Ukraine, according to the White House.
Blinken said senior officials of the two countries should also exchange views on the Middle East and the Korean peninsula.
Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said the Munich talks were a way to keep “open the line of communication” between China and the US.
“China is eager to show that they are managing the situation, while the US, because of the election this year, is much the same way … [so] both sides would like to meet more. If they have any small breakthrough, both sides would like to make it public.”
He also said that the two countries probably also raised concerns over other security issues, such as Taiwan and weapons in Ukraine, but the full details of the discussions were not likely to be disclosed to the public.
Last month, Wang met US national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Bangkok. After the meeting, Sullivan said President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden would talk by phone “relatively soon”. Beijing has not confirmed this.