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What to expect from this year's Munich Security Conference
Liu Jiaxin
01:38

World leaders will gather on Friday for the annual Munich Security Conference (MSC) to discuss the key foreign and security policy challenges. This year's three-day meeting will focus on the Ukraine crisis and China's top diplomat Wang Yi will also attend the meeting.

Russia, who started a military operation in Ukraine last February, will be absent again from this year's meeting, and both the meeting's annual report and statements by the U.S. and Western officials ahead of the meeting suggest that Ukraine will continue to receive arms aid.

Currently, Ukraine is negotiating with Western allies for more military arms, including long-range missiles and fighter jets. Vice President Kamala Harris will set out the next steps on aid to Ukraine at the MSC, according to U.S. officials.

Some countries have complained about U.S. pressure on Ukraine crisis, and Serbia's president said he was recently forced to impose sanctions on Russia because of Western pressure. Experts analyzed that one of the strategies of the U.S. and the West towards Russia is exerting multilateral pressure on other countries to join their sanctions against Russia and provide arms to Ukraine. Other strategies can be summed up as proxy wars and isolation.

Ling Shengli, director of the International Security Research Center at China Foreign Affairs University. /CGTN
Ling Shengli, director of the International Security Research Center at China Foreign Affairs University. /CGTN

Ling Shengli, director of the International Security Research Center at China Foreign Affairs University. /CGTN

"The U.S. and the West have condemned Russia politically, blockaded Russia economically and imposed sanctions on Russia militarily. Meanwhile, they are consuming Russia with proxy wars. Finally, by putting pressure on Russia's neighbors such as China, Belarus and Serbia, they hope to isolate Russia as much as possible," Ling Shengli, director of the International Security Research Center at China Foreign Affairs University, told CGTN.

China has been attending the MSC since 2010. This year, China's top diplomat Wang Yi will deliver a speech at the meeting to illustrate China's position on major international issues and China's adherence to the path of peaceful development.

"Obviously, we know that the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict lies more in the decision of the U.S., Russia and the EU," Ling said. "China hopes to play a greater role in promoting peace talks, weakening geopolitical competition and improving international security."

Ling said China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, plays vital role in the field of international security.

"China is an advocate of international security concept, builder of world peace, defender of international security order, and contributor to resolving hot spot issues," Ling said.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the 2022 Munich Security Conference, Germany, February 19, 2022. /CFP
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the 2022 Munich Security Conference, Germany, February 19, 2022. /CFP

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the 2022 Munich Security Conference, Germany, February 19, 2022. /CFP

MSC is an annual conference on international security policy that was initiated in 1962. The annual meeting developed from its origins as a "transatlantic family meeting" to its current incarnation as the "Davos of defense."

The conference is generally held at the beginning of each year, at which about 350 senior figures from more than 70 countries around the world engage in intensive debates on current and future security challenges.

"It's a summary and outlook of international security, and even a strategic review and judgment of the international security situation in advance," said Ling.

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