Munich Security Conference: China’s Wang Yi defends ties with Russia, warns West on Taiwan ‘red line’

At the ‘Davos of Defence’, the Chinese foreign minister casts Beijing as a force for stability in turbulent times

Wang renews calls for two-state solution in Israeli-Palestinian conflict and brushes off calls for China to take Russia to task over Ukraine

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi addresses the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Saturday. Photo: AP

Published: 10:21pm, 17 Feb 2024Updated: 2:32am, 18 Feb 2024

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave a forceful defence of Beijing’s ties with Moscow and warned the West not to cross red lines on Taiwan, during a combative speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

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 firm rejection of a direct request for China to rein in Russia, almost two years into its invasion of Ukraine.

On Ukraine, Beijing’s top diplomat 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”.

According to Bloomberg, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was seeking to meet Wang at the Munich event to try and convince Beijing to take part in a Kyiv-backed summit on peace.

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