The 2017 Munich Security Conference (MSC) opened on Friday at Hotel Bayerischer Hof in the German city of Munich on Friday, bringing together hundreds of world leaders, defense chiefs, diplomats and security experts against the backdrop of uncertainty around the world.

The 53rd annual event is scheduled to take place from February 17 to 19, with transatlantic relations and NATO under Donald Trump administration, European Union cooperation in security and defense, Ukraine crisis, and the situation in the Asia-Pacific, including the Korean Peninsula top on the agenda.

German Minister of Defense, Ursula von der Leyen, said in her opening statement at the MSC that the Europe’s open societies and way of life are targeted by sphere-of-influence politics as well as disinformation. 

“We want to meet our commitment as Europeans, as Atlanticists, as a grown-up country, a reliable democracy,” she said.

The year 2016 has witnessed quite a bunch of “black swan” events, from Brexit to the election of Donald Trump as the US president. The US’s cooperation with the EU and NATO has either been put on tenuous ground or questioned.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the meeting, MSC Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger said the world is confronted with “an international security environment that is arguably more volatile than at any point since World War Two.”

Over 500 decision-makers and participants in the realm of international security from the world will debate critical security challenges.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told the press during a routine briefing that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will expound on China’s position on the present international issues and security cooperation at the conference. 

Since its founding in 1963, the annual MSC, once dubbed a “transatlantic family gathering,” has become a forum dedicated to promoting peaceful conflict resolution and international cooperation and dialogue.