US Urges Unity in Munich as Europe Declares the Old Order Dead

MUNICH — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a conciliatory tone at this year’s Munich Security Conference, marking a shift from the confrontational rhetoric delivered by Vice President Vance a year ago.

Rubio told the assembly that both the United States and Europe face a shared crisis in mass migration. He warned that the current scale of movement threatens "social cohesion and cultural continuity" for Western nations.

The Secretary received a standing ovation from many European leaders after praising the historical contributions of Europeans to the founding of the United States. However, his remarks notably omitted the roles played by Native Americans, enslaved Africans, and Chinese immigrants in the country's development.

Wolfgang Ischinger, the conference organizer, described the more diplomatic approach as a "sigh of relief."

Not all officials were convinced by the shift in tone. EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas signaled her disagreement, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz offered a blunt assessment of the current geopolitical landscape.

Merz declared that the "rules-based international order" no longer exists. He criticized the "power politics" of the United States under President Trump, as well as the actions of Russia and China.

The German leader called for Europe to consolidate its economic and military resources to remain competitive. Merz asserted that Europe is now forging its own independent path on the global stage.

The polite applause European leaders offered U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Munich Security Conference was little more than a diplomatic formality. The true gravity of the summit lay in the remarks of Friedrich Merz, Germany’s likely next chancellor, who issued a blunt post-mortem for the post-war international system. His declaration that the old world order has collapsed signals a watershed moment: Europe is now actively preparing for a future stripped of the American security umbrella.

This strategic pivot is a direct reaction to the return of Donald Trump’s "transactional" foreign policy—an approach Merz characterized as "power politics." The deepening fracture in the transatlantic alliance carries profound global implications, particularly for Vietnam. For decades, Hanoi has relied on a U.S.-led "rules-based order" as a vital diplomatic bulkhead against Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea. If the leader of Europe’s economic powerhouse now considers that order defunct, Vietnam’s strategic environment has become significantly more precarious.

This geopolitical shift compels Hanoi to urgently recalibrate its long-term strategy. As U.S. security commitments transition from institutional certainties to conditional bargains, Vietnam must look beyond Washington. The path forward likely involves forging substantive bilateral security ties with individual European powers or a more strategically autonomous European Union. In the short term, the disintegration of traditional alliances heralds a more volatile era—one where middle powers like Vietnam are forced to navigate the treacherous waters of unvarnished power politics without the guardrails of the old order.

Changes in U.S. foreign policy under the Trump administration have sparked intense debate across the Vietnamese-American diaspora. Many in the community embrace the "America First" doctrine as a sign of renewed national strength. However, others—especially the older generation who still value the strategic alliances forged to combat authoritarianism—worry that distancing the U.S. from Europe undermines the collective front against China. Furthermore, rhetoric like Senator Rubio’s, which emphasizes European heritage while overlooking the contributions of Asian Americans, creates a sense of exclusion. For a community that has transformed the American landscape—from the nail salon industry to the vibrant Little Saigons across the country—this lack of recognition complicates the ongoing conversation regarding political loyalty and national identity.