Foreign and Military Affairs
Chinese FM makes debut at Munich security conference
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-06 12:49
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MUNICH, Germany - Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Friday made his much-anticipated debut at the Munich Security Conference.
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 China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi holds his speech during the 46th Conference on Security Policy in Munich February 5, 2010. [Photo/Agencies] |
It is the first time that a Chinese foreign minister has attended the 46-year-old annual forum, dubbed the "Davos of security policy."
Against the backdrop of new global challenges in the 21st century, the fact that a Chinese foreign minister is attending for the first time is widely seen as proof that the forum is increasingly focusing on global aspects.
Wolfgang Ischinger, head of the security conference, said that security challenges nowadays should be dealt with from a global perspective, which meant that Asia must be included.
Ischinger said he expected "a presentation of the fundamental goals of the Chinese foreign policy" and a noticeable willingness of China "to deal with global issues more actively."
Mei Zhaorong, China's former ambassador to Germany, said on Friday during a phone interview that the attendance of the Chinese foreign minister highlighted China's importance in the international area.
Due to the trend of globalization, no single country was able to tackle global issues on its own, he said, adding China was invited because many problems could not be solved without China's involvement.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said that the foreign minister would elaborate China's positions on issues such as energy and transport security, climate change, nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and NATO's new strategic concept.
The three-day security conference, which started on Friday, drew more than 300 high-ranking international participants.
Issues such as energy security, arms control, nuclear non-proliferation, Afghanistan, NATO's new strategic concept and Iran's nuclear program are high on the agenda.
Besides traditional topics of transatlantic and European security, the agenda of the conference for the first time included issues of resource security and the global shift of powers, according to Ischinger.
Security experts said that the meaning of "security" has changed significantly due to the impact of the financial and economic crisis.
"Quite a number of foreign and security policy issues can no longer be resolved by foreign and security politicians alone but require economic-political expertise to counter geo-political changes," Ischinger said.
