Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks on the podium during the 56th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks on the podium during the 56th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP

The West Can’t Even Agree on Itself, Much Less China

At the Munich Security Conference, allies argued with each other as much as their adversaries, rejecting Trump administration views on issue after issue.

MUNICH – The West is failing and conflict with China is inevitable. Or is it? To judge from the hand-wringing at the high-powered Munich Security Conference last weekend, the only consensus about Western power right now is that there is no consensus.

Munich is an interesting event. In a small but ridiculously ornate Bavarian hotel, world leaders trailed by delegations and security details as big as their personalities squeeze past former global figures and sycophants, ambassadors and legislators, bureaucrats of today and yesterday, opposition-party officials patiently lying in wait, academics and scholars, a very skeptical global press, and a smattering of wide-eyed young professionals.

Everyone talks. The whole affair feels like a scene of whispering courtesans in Dangerous Liaisons, if it happened inside a crowded London tube station at rush hour. All that’s missing are the wigs.

Instead of dalliances, the two issues that hung over every hallway conversation were: What to do about China? And what to do about ourselves, the West?

They whispered about the conference theme — “Westlessness” —  which asks, “Is the world becoming less Western?”

Then they whispered about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. His tough-talking speech, titled “The West is Winning,” meant to rebut the whiny intelligentsia who doubt America’s and Trump’s global leadership, and to rally the room against the invited onlookers from China, Russia, and Iran. It didn’t exactly work.

“Let’s be straight up,” Pompeo said. “The United States is out there fighting alongside you for sovereignty and freedom. We should have confidence in our alliances and our friends. The free West has a far brighter future than illiberal alternatives. We’re winning – and we’re doing it together.”

Pompeo said the word “winning” eight times in his speech. It’s one of Trump’s favorite words, but if you have to say it eight times – well, one observer in the transatlantic, smart-suited crowd muttered to me afterward that America’s top diplomat sounded more like an abusive husband emotionally harassing his battered wife, if the wife were Europe.

They next whispered about how quickly Pompeo’s rah-rah message was undercut by Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s own remarks. The rise of China, Esper declared, was in fact “the Pentagon’s top concern” and one that should “wake up” Europeans and draw them to America’s side.

“Under President Xi’s rule, the Chinese Communist Party is heading even faster and further in the wrong direction – more internal repression, more predatory economic practices, more heavy-handedness, and most concerning for me, a more aggressive military posture,” Esper said. “I continue to stress to my friends in Europe – and just this past week again at the NATO Defense Ministerial in Brussels – that America’s concerns about Beijing’s commercial and military expansion should be their concerns as well.”

Several former U.S. officials remarked to me afterward that Esper’s speech exposed the seriousness of the administration’s worry about Western disunity, as the defense secretary went from issue to issue, on China’s military buildup, the South China Sea, the belt-and-road initiative, 5G, human rights, free speech, free press, intellectual property theft, and so on.

After Esper spoke came the belle of the ball: French President Emmanuel Macron, who delivered the conference’s best performance, and another pro-European rallying cry.

“When I look at the world as it is,” Macron told conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger in a lengthy live interview, “there is indeed a weakening of the West.” NATO and transatlantic unity is well and good, he said, but he called for more “European freedom of action,” in areas like defense (including with nuclear weapons) and the need to revive European strategic and political independence. He spoke of European-only solutions to Eurocentric problems of the region.

“Today in our countries, people are doubting Europe, sometimes even the idea of ​​democracy — the extremes are rising — and our ability to respond together. So, what is the outlook for Europe over the next 20 to 30 years? That is what is at stake,” he said, in French.

“We cannot be a junior partner of the United States of America,” he added. “If the Europeans have an already common strategy, they can then claim to have a strategy with the Americans.”

After the speeches, one German television reporter commented on air, “I think Mike Pompeo is pretty much the only one you would get the quote here from that ‘the West is winning’ internationally.”

So, what’s to make of the moment? We already knew European and U.S. leaders are talking about China more than ever. We already knew the European view of China is much different than Washington’s. What Munich exposed was just how early we are in this age, as Esper put it, of “awakening” to China.  

“This is so predictable, I don’t know why it’s not self-evident to everyone that you do not want to give that power to an entity created by the People’s Liberation Army” - Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Right or wrong, the treatment of Chinese telecom giant Huawei is Washington’s litmus test for whether other countries are serious about the China threat. European and U.S. security leaders can’t agree whether Huawei’s alleged backdoors and spyware are an acceptable nuisance of the modern networked world, or whether the company is a serious security threat that steals Western technology and will leak the West’s most sensitive secrets right into China’s military and intelligence services.

Some attendees argued about the argument, suggesting that Washington may already have lost the Huawei battle. Germany recently balked at the Trump administration’s pleas to ban Huawei’s 5G gear. Yet others said even the U.K. remains split on whether to proceed w Huawei. Clearly, the Americans don’t believe China has won, or else they wouldn’t still be making their case.

One softer voice who made her own compelling argument against China was U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. She also rejected Pompeo’s chest-thumping about the West, yet stood firmly with the senior Trump administration officials, offering a different tone and approach. For her, the issue is not just about security, intelligence sharing, or a technological purity competition.  

“Nations cannot cede our telecommunication infrastructure to China for financial expediency,” Pelosi said. “Such an ill-conceived concession will only embolden Xi as he undermines democratic values, human rights, economic independence and national security.”

Pelosi called on Europe and the United States to work together and find an international technological solution – any solution, as long as it’s not from China.

“This is so predictable, I don’t know why it’s not self-evident to everyone that you do not want to give that power to an entity created by the People’s Liberation Army,” she said.

The information highway is essential to democracy, Pelosi argued. In an interesting exchange, several audience members (including the vice president of France’s Senate, and Latvia’s vice prime minister and defense minister) asked her about the rise of angry nationalist and populist voices in the West, fragmenting democracies from within. So Pelosi brought even that topic back to the question of using Chinese 5G.

“It also goes back to 5G because if you are talking about more or less democracy, while the internet has democratized communications in some ways for better, in some ways not so,” she said. “If you are expanding that communications and you are doing so in a way that is slanted to autocracy, then you are standing in the way of more democracy. These things are not unrelated.”

Later in the evening, American and Chinese views went head-to-head in a private dinner. Former Secretary of State John Kerry stood next to China’s former foreign minister Fu Ying and delivered a stump speech worthy of his 2004 presidential campaign. He warned that Western scholars, commentators, and media were pushing the United States and China toward inevitable conflict that, he said, would be as “stupid” and devastating as World War I. Then he pointedly called China belligerent and unfair, its Uighur policy “racist,” and their South China Sea islands easy targets that would be destroyed 10 minutes into any conflict with the United States.

“I say to my friends from China: ‘We have to be really smart and really careful.’” 

Kerry, who as secretary of State was privy to the deepest secrets of modern communication technology, also warned against Huawei’s 5G.

“There are such things as back doors. There are such things as trap doors. They exist,” he said. 

Kerry said he wants 5G developed as quickly and affordably as possible, but asked, “Why don’t we actually talk about how we can do that? How we can guarantee the accountability and the transparency and the mutuality, so that all of us are assured no one is trying to gain an advantage?”

Nobody around the long table offered an answer before the dessert course, but Kerry made his point.

“I have always believed there is no need for China and the United States to lead the world to a new Cold War,” he said.

He may not have to worry. The Cold War had only two sides. In Munich, the sides were too many to count. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.