China has announced its own initiative to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. “We will present something. Namely the Chinese position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” China’s top foreign policy leader Wang Yi said at the security conference in Munich on Saturday, according to an official translation. “We will stand firm on the side of peace and dialogue.”
He also criticized forces that he saw as pursuing geopolitical interests and giving less importance to the suffering of the people in Ukraine. Whether this is criticism of Western states’ military support for Ukraine remained unclear, just as he avoided a precise assessment of Russia’s responsibility.
For a safer world, “the principles of the UN Charter are something we must uphold,” Wang said. The chaos and conflicts that are wracking the world at the moment have been provoked because the principles of the UN Charter have not been upheld.
In the conflict over Taiwan, he remained firm. “Taiwan has never been, and never will be, a separate country. This is the status quo of the Taiwan issue,” Wang said. Taiwan is part of Chinese territory. “It is not China that wants to change this status quo, but separatist forces in Taiwan.”
Wallace sees “consensus” against quick delivery of fighter jets
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace sees broad agreement among the ranks of the allies that a rapid delivery of modern fighter jets to Ukraine is out of the question. This attitude is “a consensus among Western partners,” Wallace told Der Spiegel on the fringes of the Munich Security Conference. “There will be no quick deliveries of fighter jets, certainly not in this phase of the war, and almost certainly not in six months,” Wallace said, confirming statements made in the past few days.
Modern aircraft like the “Eurofighter” could “only be delivered to Ukraine after the war,” Wallace said. Pilot training takes a long time. In addition, you need a lot of technicians on the ground for operation. “Nevertheless, we are signaling our basic readiness to eventually take that step reiterates our determination to help Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Wallace said.
The minister warned against overly high expectations of the recently decided delivery of tanks to Ukraine. “Of course, the tanks will make the Ukrainians stronger, but they are not a magic potion that changes everything from one day to the next,” said the minister.
Von der Leyen wants purchase guarantees for armaments companies
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is promoting purchase guarantees for the armaments industry in order to supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition better and faster. “We now have to do what we did during the pandemic,” she said, referring to contracts with pharmaceutical companies to speed up the production of corona vaccines. Purchase guarantees could now give the defense industry the opportunity to invest more quickly in production lines and increase supply volumes.
“I think now is the time to increase the production of standardized products that Ukraine so desperately needs,” von der Leyen said. An example is artillery ammunition with a caliber of 155 millimeters.
Finland’s Prime Minister: West made “big mistake”.
According to Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, the West could have prevented Russia’s war. When Russia attacked the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014, they made the “big mistake” of not reacting more strongly together, she said. “If we had reacted more strongly to Crimea, then the war would not have taken place.”
Marin said Russia apparently thought last year’s invasion would be like Crimea’s 2014 and that the war could be won easily and quickly within a few weeks. “We now have to learn from the current situation,” said Marin, who spoke in a panel discussion with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “I think the most important lesson is not to be naive.”
