Europe needs closer ties with Russia to counterweight increasing influence of China instead of committing a strategic mistake of pushing Russia closer to its Asian neighbor, Matthias Platzeck, the board chairman of the German-Russian Forum and a former minister-president of Germany's Brandenburg, told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th February, 2020) Europe needs closer ties with Russia to counterweight increasing influence of China instead of committing a strategic mistake of pushing Russia closer to its Asian neighbor, Matthias Platzeck, the board chairman of the German-Russian Forum and a former minister-president of Germany's Brandenburg, told Sputnik.
"If we analyze how the world will develop in the next 15-20 years, some things are clear: China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan will become an unattainable economic center of the world. The societies in these counties are young, active and have a huge economic potential - and they are hungry. The second center will emerge around USA, Canada and Mexico. It will focus on financial and military aspects," the politician said.
In this connection, Europe has to make a fundamental decision whether it wants to become the third center, he went on to say.
"In this competition between the three centers Europe doesn't have a chance without Russia. On the other hand, we will be competitive and strong if we come to a reasonable accord with Russia," Platzeck said.
He praised the efforts of the French president Emmanuel Macron who's been drawing Europe's attention to the necessity of revising its relations with Moscow.
"The French president speaks about it openly. Despite the difficulties that might occur in [the Russian-European] relationship he always says that without Russia we'll be unable to resolve them. If we make this mistake and for the next 15 years continue pushing Russia towards China, we will be digging our own grave," the official said.
He argued that closer partnership between Europe and Russia could be mutually beneficial and grow into a powerful political and technological bloc.
