【Ring Time Depth】Mu An Hui Notes: Make a Chinese Voice at Western "Family Gatherings"!

Source: Global Times

It has been many days since the 59th Munich Security Conference (hereinafter referred to as the Mu'an Conference), held from February 17 to 19. In stark contrast to the chill that some Western countries conveyed at the Mu'an meeting, China issued a strong voice at the "annual meeting of ideas" hosted by the West, calling for "building a safer world." The Globalization Think Tank (CCG) has participated in the Muan Conference many times in recent years, and we were very impressed by the close observation and participation in this conference. Unlike previous Februarys, Munich was so warm and pleasant that people didn't even have to wear coats when they went out. But this "warmest Mu'an meeting" is obviously affected by the first anniversary of the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, with a lot of camp antagonism and Cold War mentality. In this context, China's voice is clearly more important.

China is an important participant in the Annual Conference of Ideas

Described by CNN as the "Supreme Meeting on Global Diplomacy and Security," the Muan Society was founded 60 years ago, and the security topics were not as broad as they are now. At the beginning of its founding, it was more like a "small circle" formed by Western political and academic circles to discuss Cold War security issues, and was even called the annual "family gathering" and "annual meeting of unified ideas" in Western countries. Today, climate change, energy security, food security, health security, cyber security, etc. have also become the main topics of the meeting, and every year the participants will put forward many original ideas.

In recent years, the number of participants at the Muan meeting has stabilized at 600 to 700, which can be regarded as "small but fine" compared to the thousands of global business and political elites gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos at the beginning of each year.

During this year's Muan meeting, not only French President Macron, German Chancellor Scholz, British Prime Minister Sunak and US Vice President Harris attended and delivered speeches, but also a large number of US and European parliamentarians, military and think tank representatives attended. One-third of the members of the U.S. Senate attended the meeting, so much so that Hartman, honorary chairman of the Wilson Center, joked: "So many members here can introduce bills and push for votes." This year's Mu'an meeting has also attracted worldwide attention because Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, held "informal contacts" with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the request of the US side.

It is worth noting that this year's Muan meeting not only has political, academic and military figures, but also some heads of world-renowned high-tech companies appeared on the scene, and even the author met the founder of an international luxury brand. It is extremely rare for such a large number of business people to participate in the meeting, indicating that the Mu'an Association is becoming a platform for the West to build a more comprehensive consensus among all walks of life, politics, business, academia and military. Judging from the various changes in the Mu'an Meeting, Western countries want to transform this conference from a highly professional security forum into an important platform for gathering consensus, unifying ideas and forming a new discourse system.

Traditionally, the vast majority of attendees are concentrated at the Bavarian Manor Hotel in Munich, where meetings are held for three days in a "compact space" to facilitate high-intensity interaction. Interaction in such situations not only increases understanding, but also serves as a good opportunity for all parties to broaden their network. Whether at the venue or in the hotel lobby and café, you can meet many internationally renowned dignitaries. At the 2019 Muan Conference, we held a discussion with Scholz, then Germany's finance minister and current chancellor.

The Munich Security Report released every time is also a "bright spot", and its analysis and judgment of the global security situation often become the basis for decision-making by some Western countries. Due to the high level of attendees, the meeting has increasingly become a high-end platform for senior government officials to meet and communicate, formally or informally. Since 1999, when it first sent official representatives to the Mu'an meeting, China has become an indispensable participant in the "Annual Meeting of Ideas", and the topic of China has also become a hot topic. In 2020, there were as many as 11 sub-forums explicitly involving China, including "How the West Faces China's Challenge" and "Transatlantic Relations and China's Dilemma".

In the past two years, due to the epidemic, Chinese representatives have participated more often in the Mu'an meeting through video. When Chinese representatives reappear at "family gatherings" in the West this year, the significance and impact are very far-reaching.

China has shown a pragmatic attitude

The annual safety report of the Society contains themes that express the mood of Western society, such as "Westlessness" in 2020 and "Unlearning Helplessness" in 2022. These themes reflect the intense anxiety that the Western world has felt in recent years due to changes in the international order and pattern. The theme of this year's Mu'an meeting is a pun "Re: vision", which means both "changing the international order" and the hope of reshaping the vision. The two meanings overlap, showing the complex mentality of the West.

The Muan meeting coincided with the first anniversary of the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Europe is the most affected by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and the atmosphere is the most tense. We saw a huge advertisement outside the hotel with the bodies of Ukrainians lying on the ground with the words "Ukraine is you", which means "If you don't help Ukraine, these dead people will be you in the future". Echoing this, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and a series of changes in the international situation brought about by it have become the focus of discussion at this year's Mu'an Conference.

As in the previous session, when supporting Ukraine's final victory from an anti-Russian position has become "politically correct" in some European and American countries, the current Muan Congress did not invite official representatives of Russia. In Russia's view, the Muan Association has increasingly become a "transatlantic forum" that has lost its inclusiveness and objectivity.

Some Russian media published an article saying that "NATO wants to double the bet through the Muan Society." For the absent Russia, representatives of Western countries began to "soft and hard": US Vice President Harris used a large part of his speech to expound the US views on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and very sensationally accused Russia of committing "war crimes" in Ukraine; German Foreign Minister Baerbock said that if Russia decides to stop bombing Ukraine and withdraw its troops, the whole conflict "will end the next day."

A closer look at the Muan Association can also reveal that there is a profound meaning behind some details. Under former US President Donald Trump, Europe was annoyed with the United States, a sentiment that was reflected in the Muan meeting in previous years. The differences between the United States and Europe have been significantly reduced, but when Harris said in his speech that "the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has brought Europe and the United States closer together", Hoysgen, chairman of the association, bluntly said that the US Inflation Reduction Act squeezed out European companies through subsidies, which made the European business community very opinionated. From this detail, it can be seen that the United States and Europe are not without contradictions. Many European participants told us: "We don't want to see Europe get too close to the United States, but there is no way to do it after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict." ”

The U.S. and European participants also tried to reach a consensus on China policy at this year's Muan meeting. For example, a sub-forum on "Bridging Cross-Atlantic Differences on China" was held during the conference to discuss how to reduce differences between the United States and Europe in formulating China policy. Due to the convergence of political and business parties, some Western participants do not want to lose such opportunities. A certain US congressman said at the meeting, "Trade with China is good, but dependence on China is bad, and eggs cannot be put in one basket." Considering that Ambassador Fu Cong, head of the Chinese mission to the European Union, has just proposed that "both sides lift sanctions at the same time" on the issue of the China-EU investment agreement on hold, and that US public opinion frequently hyped up the "decoupling" of China and established various alliances to contain China's high-tech industry and economic development, it is difficult to say that the US congressman's words did not mean anything.

Compared with Western attacks and accusations, China has shown a more pragmatic attitude at the Mu'an Society. Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, attended the Munich Security Conference and delivered a keynote speech entitled "Building a Security World", announcing that China will issue China's Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukrainian Crisis. Wang Yi also said when meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba that we do not want to see the Ukrainian crisis become prolonged and expanded, and are willing to work with the international community to avoid further deterioration of the situation and persistently strive for peace.

The British newspaper The Guardian said in a report on the Muan meeting: "China's peace plan has received 'cautious tribute' from the West. During the meeting, representatives of international institutions took the initiative to come to us and said, "Director Wang Yi's keynote speech has brought a different voice. On this occasion, the West should listen more to China. ”

The West did not treat the Muan Association as an empty talkpoint

Nevertheless, this year's Mu'an Conference still reveals some narrow thinking of the organizers and the West, and in the assessment of the security index set for each country, it still follows the assessment dimension of "the damage to democracy in the country", reflecting the dualistic worldview of "democracy and autocracy" prevailing in Western thinking. While Western countries have united their alliances with "democratic" values, they have also used the label of "authoritarian" to treat other countries, including China, differently.

There will also be a side event at the Muan meeting on "how to shape the influence of democratic values in the United States and Europe elsewhere." This has left many non-Western countries unhappy. At a meeting of entrepreneurs from Middle Eastern countries that we attended, all parties said that they "do not want to see the world camp and do not want to take sides." A Singaporean representative said at a separate session that countries cannot be classified as "democratic or autocratic" because non-Western countries have different governance models than European and American countries, and they must advocate inclusiveness. When many delegates talked to us about this topic, they hoped that China would have more voices.

We feel that changing the narrow thinking of the West is not something that can be done in a day or two, and that it is necessary to have a persistent mentality and promote it in an appropriate way. First of all, China should participate in such forums and activities as much as possible and actively voice China's true voice. Showing the style of a great power and international influence is certainly one of the purposes of the conference. We have also observed that: first, as long as there are Chinese attending and present activities, many speakers in Western countries will exercise restraint in their words, which to a certain extent can make discussions and dialogues more rational and objective; Second, there are many Westerners who are willing to listen to China's voice. Before the opening of the conference, Kekst CNC, an internationally renowned consulting firm responsible for writing the Munich Safety Index Report, invited us to attend the luncheon and deliver a keynote speech. The luncheon, mostly attended by CEOs of multinational companies, took the opportunity to explain to them the views of Chinese think tanks on global hot topics. Many participants said that after listening to the Chinese representatives, they believed that EU-China business cooperation in the post-epidemic era has very broad prospects.

The Globalization Think Tank (CCG) held a side event with the theme of "Oasis or Phantom: Analysis of China-US Climate Partnership" at this year's Muan Summit, and invited many old friends from China and abroad to participate. Fu Ying, Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, González, former Foreign Minister of Spain, Vais, Director General of the Paris Peace Forum, Wolff, Director and CEO of the German Council for Foreign Relations, and Yi Ming, Senior Adviser for China Affairs of the US Department of Commerce, attended the meeting and delivered speeches. Fu Ying said in her speech that climate issues are related to the future well-being of mankind, and Sino-US cooperation on climate issues should not be stopped due to the decline in bilateral relations. China has always believed that globalization will not stop and that cooperation between China and the United States on economic development, trade growth and climate issues should continue. We were also impressed by a quote from Graham Allison, founding dean of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, at the side event. He said: "Sino-US relations cannot be defined only by competition, but also cooperation, and the degree of emphasis on cooperation between China and the United States should not be less than the emphasis on competition." It should be said that if such a view can be recognized by US policymakers, it can have a positive impact on the development of Sino-US relations.

During this year's Mu'an meeting, CCG participated in a number of sub-forums and side events, and to a certain extent explained China's policies, positions and views. During the meeting, the CCG also put forward some relevant suggestions, such as advocating the formation of the "G3" mechanism of the China-US-EU trilateral dialogue, and holding the "5 permanent members of the UN Security Council + Ukraine and EU seven-party talks" within the framework of the United Nations on the Ukraine issue. We hope that in the future, Chinese think tanks will also hold more such multilateral forums and activities with international influence in China, invite more international guests to participate in the conference, create an international platform to consolidate consensus of all parties, strengthen communication and exchanges, and give voice to more Chinese voices.

It is worth mentioning that the Muan Society has maintained its influence on Western policymaking. A UN official I knew at the Muan meeting told us privately that he had to come to the conference every year because some of the voices and insights he heard would be formed and introduced within the year. For example, key technical issues such as Chinese technology companies and 5G networks, the dichotomy between "democracy and autocracy", and the "Indo-Pacific strategy", which were hotly discussed at the Mu'an Conference in previous years, all appeared in the relevant policies issued by some Western countries later. In this sense, Western countries did not regard the meeting as an empty talk. For China, we need to pay more attention to this platform, not only through the Muan Association to strengthen communication and exchanges with the outside world, reduce misunderstanding and form consensus on some issues, but also provide Chinese solutions and Chinese suggestions at the meeting, and seek the greatest common divisor of the interests of all parties in practice. (The authors are Wang Huiyao, Chairman of the Globalization Think Tank [CCG], and Miao Lv, Secretary-General of the Globalization Think Tank [CCG])