China's top diplomat Wang Yi will head to Europe to attend an annual security conference in Munich and visit Spain and France, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday.

According to the ministry, Wang will attend the Munich Security Conference, which runs from February 16 to 18, and will deliver a speech at the China seminar during the conference to explain "China's propositions on building a community with a shared future for mankind and advocating an equal and orderly multipolar world".

"At present, major changes in the world are accelerating and the world has entered a new period of turbulence and transformation," the ministry said in a statement.

The international security policy conference, which marks its 60th edition this year, is held annually at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich. Sometimes called the "Davos for defence", the conference is attended by defence and security officials from around the globe. China has frequently sent high-level representatives to the event, according to the foreign ministry.

This year's conference is likely to address the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Government officials from Russia and Iran were not invited to the conference amid escalating conflicts in the Gaza Strip and Red Sea as well as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which will soon enter its third year.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will lead the US delegation to Munich after visiting Albania.

Wang attended the conference last year and met Blinken on the sidelines of the event. During their talks, the pair discussed the alleged Chinese surveillance balloon that was spotted in US airspace in February of last year.

Wang is also likely to meet British foreign secretary and former prime minister David Cameron for the first time since the latter took the role in November, according to a report from The Guardian.

Benjamin Barton, associate professor at the University of Nottingham's Malaysia campus, said Wang's participation was part of the ongoing process of thawing ties between China and the West, as there was growing recognition in Beijing that it could not continue "ostracising itself from the West".

"I would imagine that many of the discussions that will take place between Wang Yi and his Western counterparts will focus on forging ahead with this desire to rekindle the relationship with an eye on the bigger picture of the world's current security dilemmas," Barton said.

"The aim would appear to be to get to the point where both sides are seeking to advance a common perception of how to move forward towards maintaining global stability at a time when different interlinked conflicts are unfolding simultaneously."

Barton added that the West will want to know more about where China stands on the war in the Ukraine - given its ties with Moscow - its indirect role in the war and its post-conflict vision of Ukraine, as well as other conflicts in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

"Gaza, the Red Sea, Taiwan, the South China Sea and hotspot situations on the African continent are bound to come up. There seems to be an emphasis at this year's event on cybersecurity too," he said.

Wang will also visit Spain and France following the Munich conference to mark China's 50th and 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relations with the two countries respectively.

It is the first time in six years a Chinese foreign minister will visit Spain. The Chinese foreign ministry noted that Spain was an "important country in the EU and a comprehensive strategic partner of China" and said the visit would mark "the beginning of a new 50-year relationship" between the two countries.

During his first visit to France this year, Wang will hold bilateral meetings and co-chair a new round of the China-France Strategic Dialogue with Emmanuel Bonne, French President Emmanuel Macron's top diplomatic adviser.

"China hopes to work with France to further deepen strategic communication, consolidate political mutual trust, [and] advance practical cooperation ... to jointly steer China-Europe relations towards sound and steady growth, and contribute to global peace, stability, development and progress," the foreign ministry said.

Can Beijing convince Europe to ditch a Trump-led US?

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to visit Europe this week in efforts bolster Beijing’s contentious but critical relationship with the bloc.

Wang will kick off his European tour at the Munich Security Conference this Friday, before visiting Spain and France, officials said. He is also expected to meet with U.K. Foreign Minister David Cameron, The Guardian reported.

The visit comes at a pivotal moment when Europe is reassessing its relationship with a potentially Donald Trump-led United States.

Beijing will also be hoping to discuss China’s role in Europe’s green boom, and its growing prominence as strategic security player in the Middle East.

Beijing hones in on Europe as a possible Trump presidency looms

“Beijing couldn’t have hoped for a better moment” to visit Europe as the bloc grapples with the possibility of a second term for former President Donald Trump, Stuart Lau wrote for Politico’s China Watcher newsletter. Europe has been particularly spooked by Trump’s comments that appeared to encourage Russia to attack NATO countries who weren’t reaching defense spending targets. When Trump was in power last time, “Beijing and Europe were in constant flirtation mode,” Lau wrote, and China encouraged the EU to adopt “strategic autonomy” from Trump’s isolationist economic and security model. This pushed Germany to deepen its dependency on auto and 5G technology trade with China, got Italy to sign the Belt and Road Initiative, and the EU to score a massive Chinese investment deal just days before President Joe Biden took office. But current geopolitics could muddle China’s ambitions: the EU is for the first time considering sanctioning Chinese firms for helping Russia circumvent sanctions and buy dual-use goods.

China’s role in EU’s green boom divides countries

The EU is in a current green boom, installing a record number of solar panels last year, Reuters reported. But about 95% of the new panels and parts are reportedly from China, and European panel manufacturers are in crisis mode as they face shut downs. France and Germany — once a united front for EU initiatives — are now at odds over Beijing’s role in the energy transition, according to the South China Morning Post. France, which is largely self-reliant with nuclear energy, supported EU measures to curb the imports of Chinese panels, much to the dismay of Germany who is heavily dependent on cheap Chinese panels. The bill ultimately failed. France also backed an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese-made electric vehicles, leaving Berlin fuming over German firms being hit by import duties. “There is no such thing as a Franco-German couple any more,” a French diplomat told SCMP, referring to China as one of the main points of contention.

China looking to court Global South as Europe’s influence wanes

Brussels and Beijing will likely have to iron out China’s role in mediating global crises. In the Middle East, Europe is now largely considered an irrelevant player and negotiator as the bloc squabbles over the appropriate response to Israel’s Gaza counteroffensive, China’s Observer Network argued. Chinese President Xi Jinping is capitalizing on this division, and hoping to convince the Global South that it can “lead non-Western responses to contentious issues such as Gaza,” analyst Neil Thomas told the German Marshall Fund’s China Global podcast. Before his scheduled Europe trip, Wang Yi visited northern Africa where Beijing’s “willingness to take a more vocal, pro-Palestinian position” is giving the country inroads for investment opportunities in the region, according to Dispatch Risk Advisory, a security consulting firm.