MSC: Failed Ukraine would weaken US, EU warns – DW (English)

February 14, 2025

China’s Wang Yi asks US to work ‘together,’ but stresses preparedness to fight back

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi directly addressed his country’s shaky relationship with the US, which has become even more tense since President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month.

Addressing the Munich Security Conference in a conversation with the chair, Wang stressed that global challenges require the two countries to work together, adding that “we can’t have conflict between China and the US.”

The Chinese top diplomat described Beijing’s US policy as “consistent and stable,” but vowed to “resolutely respond to unilateral bullying practices.”

“If the US is bent on suppressing China, then we have no choice but to play along in the end,” Wang said.

February 14, 2025

Mass migration is Europe’s ‘most urgent’ challenge, says Vance

US Vice President JD Vance has called on Europe to do more to curb illegal migration, calling it the continent’s “most urgent” challenge.

Vance was speaking at the Munich Security Conference, a day after an Afghan man was arrested in the southern German city over a car-ramming attack that injured 36 people.

“How many times must we suffer these appalling setbacks before we change course and take our shared civilization in a new direction?” Vance said, adding that the European electorate did not vote to open the “floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants.”

He also urged countries in Europe to take responsibility for their own defense so that Washington could focus on threats elsewhere.

“We think it’s an important part of being in a shared alliance together that the Europeans step up while America focuses on areas of the world that are in great danger,” Vance said.

February 14, 2025

China’s Wang Yi urges respect for rule of law, avoiding ‘double standards’

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi stressed in his Munich Security Conference address the need to respect and uphold international rule of law and avoid “double standards.”

“Major countries must take the lead in honoring their words and upholding the rule of law,” Wang said, in what was seen as an indirect reference to the US and Europe. 

He stressed that all countries’ “sovereignty and territorial integrity” should be supported, which he said also means support for “China’s complete reunification,” in a roundabout reference to Taiwan.

Beijing sees the self-ruled island as part of its own territory. In recent years, China has intensified efforts to diplomatically isolate Taipei by poaching its allies. It has also ramped up military pressure by conducting large-scale military exercises around the island.

The Chinese top diplomat on Friday also defended Beijing’s relationship with Moscow, which the West has criticized since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Wang argued that exchanges between the two countries are “normal.”

He also indirectly criticized tariffs imposed on China by both the US and the European Union, stressing that “protectionism offers no way out” and that “arbitrary tariffs produce no winners.”

February 14, 2025

Vance says free speech ‘in retreat’ in Europe

US Vice President JD Vance has used his speech at the Munich Security Conference to criticize what he called the “retreat” of free speech across Europe.

“The threat that I worry most about, vis-a-vis Europe, is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,” Vance said. “What I worry about is the threat from within: the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values — values shared with the United States of America.”

“Across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat,” he added.

“Under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will defend your right to offer it in the public square — agree or disagree.”

February 14, 2025

A failed Ukraine would ‘weaken the United States,’ says EU chief

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said forcing Ukraine into a bad deal to bring the war with Russia to an end would harm US interests.

“A failed Ukraine would weaken Europe, but it would also weaken the United States,” von der Leyen said.

She made the comments at the Munich Security Conference, which is being overshadowed by uncertainty about US policy on Ukraine. On Thursday, US President Donald Trump surprised many in Europe when he held a phone call with his Russian counterpart about ending the conflict without first consulting European leaders or Ukraine.

Von der Leyen urged Trump to work together for a “just peace.”

She also said the European Union needed to drastically increase its defense spending and suggested relaxing the bloc’s strict debt rules as one way to make such a surge possible.

“This will allow member states to substantially increase their defense expenditure,” the EU chief said.

EU members are obliged to keep their deficit below 3% and their debt ratio below 60% of GDP.

February 14, 2025

Germany’s Baerbock rejects JD Vance reported comments on AfD

Rana Taha | Wesley Dockery

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock criticized comments reportedly made by US Vice President JD Vance regarding the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party.

Vance, who is in Germany to attend the Munich Security Conference (MSC), reportedly urged German established parties to cooperate with the AfD.

“The only person who decides the German parliamentary election, as in any democracy, is and will be the German voters,” Baerbock said from  the MSC on Friday.

“Fortunately, we live in a democracy,” the German top diplomat added. “This cannot be emphasized often enough these days, when we are seeing people around the world giving their lives to be able to vote freely.”

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Friday, Vance said he intended to tell European leaders attending the MSC they must embrace the rise of anti-establishment politics and that he would urge German politicians to work with all parties including the anti-immigration AfD.

At a press conference on Friday, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said outsiders should not be “meddling in the internal affairs of a friendly country” and that they “may not have a full overview of the political debate” in Germany.

Germany’s domestic intelligence service (BfV) is monitoring the AfD party as a suspected right-wing extremist group, while several state-level party organizations have already classified it as such. 

The far-right party is currently second in most national polls at roughly 20% support, ahead of the February 23 elections.

Earlier in January, the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) controversially secured a majority for an anti-immigration motion with the support of AfD votes.

The move was seen as breaking a conventional “firewall” in German politics whereby traditional, democratic parties refuse to cooperate with the extreme right. 

It has since seen hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in protests in various cities.

February 14, 2025

Trump team ignoring ‘established rules,’ says German president

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier says the Donald Trump administration “has no regard for established rules,” and that Europe will have to”accept it” and “deal with it.”

“It is clear that the new American administration holds a world view that is very different from our own,” he told the Munich Security Conference. “But I’m convinced that it is not in the interest of the international community for this world view to become the dominant paradigm.”

“The absence of rules must not become the guiding principle of a new world order,” he added to applause from participants. 

The German head of state also voiced concerns about what he described as the “historically unprecedented concentration of technological, financial and political power” in Washington.

“I’m being frank … as a democrat it causes me great concern to see how a small elite group of business people has both the means and the power to rewrite a significant part of the liberal democracy playbook,” he said.

“And I’m even more concerned when some of these business people openly express their contempt for our democratic institutions and norms.”

“Democracy is not a business model,” he added. “Democracy is not a playpen for disruption.”

February 14, 2025

NATO 2% target ‘belongs to another era’: Steinmeier

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has told participants at the Munich Security Conference that Germany had “got the message” about the importance of boosting military spending.

“Expenditure on security must continue to rise. Our armed forces must become stronger — not to wage war, but to prevent war,” he said.

He said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago was a watershed moment and that the NATO of today was facing different threats to the ones that existed when the alliance was founded over 70 years ago.

“The 2% target which we formally agreed belongs to another era,” Steinmeier said. “We must ask ourselves what we owe NATO today, so that in another 70 years it will still be able to defend freedom and security.”

He also acknowledged the need to balance “burden-sharing between Europe and the US,” adding that Germany would “do its part.”

His comments came after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called on European countries to significantly boost their defense spending and take more responsibility for the continent’s security.

“This discussion is not just about increasing European troop levels, but also about reducing the American troop presence in Europe,” he said, stressing that it was not in European or US interests to weaken NATO.

He also warned that withdrawing support for Kyiv in the war against Russia would not only come at a cost to Europe and Ukraine, but also to the US.

“How this war concludes will have a lasting impact on our security order and also on the influence of both Europe and the United States in the world,” he said. “In every scenario, support for Ukraine must continue.”

February 14, 2025

NATO head Rutte: Europe needs Ukraine plan

NATOSecretary General Mark Rutte said that European countries should come up with plans for Ukraine if they want to have a say in a peace deal for the country.

“I really believe that what my European friends need to do is to come up with concrete plans,” he said ahead of the Munich Security Conference, where US Vice President JD Vance is expected to present President Donald Trump‘s plans of achieving peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Vance’s speech is expected at 14:30 CET.

February 14, 2025

Germany’s president opens Munich Security Conference

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has delivered his opening speech at the Munich Security Conference.

He began by conveying his condolences to the 36 people injured in a car-ramming attack in the southern German city on Thursday.

He also pointed out that the conference was taking place at a “pivotal point” for Germany, which will elect a new parliament in a little over a week.

Steinmeier is a member of the ruling center-left Social Democrats, which have been polling at around 15%, in third place behind the conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

“Let me be absolutely clear, Europe plays a pivotal role in our policy and will continue to do so,” Steinmeier said. “Whatever its composition, the next federal government must conduct its work in a manner that respects and promotes European unity.”

February 14, 2025

Europe needs to invest more in defense, Rheinmetall CEO says

Armin Papperger, the CEO of Germany’s largest arms maker Rheinmetall, tells DW that it is “absolutely right” for Germany to follow Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’ advice and invest 3% of its GDP in defense.

According to Papperger, pressure on Europe from US President Donald Trump is a “wake up call” for Europeans.

“Over the last 30 years, [Europeans] didn’t invest enough into our national security and into the security of the Western world,” Papperger said.

February 14, 2025

‘Collective shock’ over future of European security: DW’s Michaela Küfner

The prospect of peace talks to end the war in Ukraine and US demands that Europe take responsibility for its own security are looming large at this year’s Munich Security Conference.

“For many years the Europeans have been told, [by] president after president, that they will have to take charge of their own security,” DW’s Chief Political Editor Michaela Küfner said.

“Now the day has arrived and there seems to be a kind of collective shock and somewhat of a disorientation of what that will mean.”

She said all eyes would be on US Vice President JD Vance and what he says about Ukraine when he delivers a speech at the conference later this afternoon. It comes after US Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth told European countries to spend more on defense and take a greater role in the continent’s security.

“This is not just about Ukraine. Ukraine is central to European security, but this is about the very concept of American engagement in Europe — what kind of an ally it chooses to be in the future,” Küfner said.

“There’s a real fear of what that means in concrete terms. In terms of US withdrawal from Europe and what impact that could have on relations, particularly with Russia. Does NATO still pose a credible threat to Russia? That’s now an open question.”

February 14, 2025

German Defense Minister Pistorius calls US peace offering to Russia ‘clumsy’

Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Europe is “not in a position” to provide credible deterrence in Ukraine without US help in the next year.

This comes as US Vice President JD Vance is expected to lay out President Donald Trump’s plan for securing peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Pistorius added that any negotiations over peace should involve Europeans.

“It’s obvious that Europeans can’t be involved in securing a peace that they haven’t been involved in negotiating,” he said.

According to the German defense minister, it was a mistake to take Ukraine’s NATO membership off the table and make territorial concessions to Russia, calling it “clumsy.”

February 14, 2025

Steinmeier, Baerbock meet VP Vance ahead of MSC

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock met US Vice President JD Vance before the start of the Munich Security Conference. 

Wolfgang Schmidt, the head of the Chancellery, also took part in the talks, as did US special envoy and former US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell.

Vance is scheduled to have a conversation with Friedrich Merz, the conservative leader and the front–runner to become the next German chancellor after the February 23 elections.

Current Chancellor Olaf Scholz is not expected in Munich until Saturday. He is also not scheduled to hold talks with Vance.

February 14, 2025

Trump’s policies cast shadow over MSC

The traditionally close ties between the US and Europe have defined the Munich Security Conference for decades. 

Despite some differences, there has always been a solid foundation. Everyone worked well together and respected each other.

But since US President Donald Trump has come into office, such certainty has been crumbling. 

Though not in attendance, Donald Trump will loom large at this year’s Munich Security Conference. 

Europe’s military leaders will have to reckon with the US president’s defense spending demands and Ukraine peace plans.

Click here to read more about the MSC being held in the shadow of Trump.