The 56th Munich Security Conference: ‘Westlessness’ and China Threat Perception

Dr. CHUNG Eunsook

Director of the Dept of Security Strategy Studies

The Sejong Institute

chunges@sejong.org

English Abstract

The 56th Munich Security Conference, an annual conference on international security policies and transatlantic relations, was held from February 14 to 16, 2020, in Munich, Germany. While a number of traditional and non-traditional security issues were discussed, this report briefly analyzed perspectives of the leaders of the Atlantic region on European and international security affairs with the focus on traditional security issues such as military and hard power politics, a core framework of the Munich Security Conference. In short, “a less of “Western” world” and “a mistrust of China” formed the basis of discussions. To be more specific, the European leaders emphasized the former; the US officials of Trump administration underlined the latter. Furthermore, it seemed hard to be optimistic about the arrival of peace after the coronavirus crisis.