Bejing, 04/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - "We recognise that your relationship with the United States, the world's only super-power, is probably the key geostrategic relationship of the coming century. We all have to define ourselves in relationship to a country so powerful militarily, culturally and economically…But the importance of your relationship with America, and of our own relationship with that country, should not belittle the value of our relationship with each other. Nor should we see the Sino-Europe relationship entirely through the prism of our respective attitudes and partnerships with the United States." This extract was taken from a speech made by Chris Patten, commissioner for External Relations, at the Central Party School in Beijing on 4 April 2002 (see EUROPE yesterday page 11 for further details on visit).
In his speech, Mr Patten also mentioned the impact of technology on the foreign policy and security debate, pointing out that technology, "by destroying and cheapening distance technology increases the impact of market opening and trade liberalisation and speeds up the results". He also referred to the fact that it took, "European economies after the industrial revolution a century or so to double their national wealth, Asian countries have managed that during the present technological age in 10 or 20 years".
Mr Patten stressed that the current role of the EU in the world would be to concentrate on countries that are not far from the EU and that the EU should be up-to-date on what's happening in its "own backyard". He pointed to the Balkans and non-EU Mediterranean countries, pointing out that the EU was attempting to create a free-trade zone and a single market around the Mediterranean and that if they were successful in achieving this it would be before the end of the current decade.
Commissioner Patten concluded with the following, "Politics is going to be as important in the next few years as it has ever been…Despite recent obsessions with economics, politics has not had its day, indeed the art of wise political leadership will be required as much as ever before".