from slovenia chose to send his colleagues off with a message and a bit of a song. but not through the and fifty's that was it. was my idea i didn't. want to maybe get a cup of coffee. that was beethoven's ninth symphony will see at the top of the hour with more news if. it's crunch time the european elections are just around the corner that's getting easier you might ask a simple why should i care what the european market is one of the biggest in the one everyone and the back needs to get to watch our special so you will actions why they matter to asia. rather it will actions why they matter to asia. every journey

begins with the first step and every language but the first word published in the group. is in germany to learn german why not with simple online on your mobile. d w z e learning course nico speak german. welcome to crunch time the european elections are just around the corner i know we've almost forgotten about them because of brags but now they are back with a vengeance and you might have recognised the place we are sitting here this is of course the seat of the european parliament in strasbourg and this is the last plenary session in this set up before the election so it's time to discuss the new elections and why they matter to ensure that if you sing something you might ask why should i care about the european elections when it is one of the biggest

markets in the what and in times of globalization everyone everywhere needs to get there and we're going to discuss that with a great panel so stick with us and stick with our guests on my left for example below who is a member of the european greens and an egg. spirit. she says the guiding light for good governance in the region needs to be universal human rights and on my right we have professor dr who he is from the center for global studies in bonn and europe and asia needs each other to overcome these times of uncertainty on the road over there the youngest member of the european parliament so it's it's his future we're also talking about here it's of course ralph and he is from the e.c.r. group the european conservatives and reformists and he says calling the asian economies suddenly systemic rivals and competitors is going to fall. also

with us is mr good do you think he's india's former ambassador to germany and he says europe is not. in asia. i would show some member of the european left a member of the e.u. china delegation he says asia and europe need to be the closest possible partners to overcome the global problems talking about problems and bachmann is next every time i talk about europe and asia people say to me you mean china many people here asia is synonymous with china so let's talk china. china is big china a sponsor china is trying to change. the nation is striving for power to become the technology of the world.

and road initiatives in twenty first century. it's been called by the rich chinese marshall plan dates back to complain dominance does the trade got the. better so. we cannot let mutual suspicion. so we get the better of us. you're one straight but. this has to lead to aggressive prosody that we're still struggling to achieve using them much fun not. nice outside. european industries are increasingly falling under chinese control. it is going to play european enterprises need to get the same degree of access to the market as the chinese get in europe. china is a global player when it comes to digital infrastructure europeans have long been

familiar with the dominance of chinese giants like who play. instruments spying on europe. none of us is naïve. china relations facing new challenges time. the only one on hardball and you said you were looking for the closest possible relationship right here or should we disregard the spying of china should we disregard the human rights situation and just go for a very close partnership close partnership includes human rights as i would say but this includes also. concentrating on the question how we can come. out and that means that we have to focus on the social issues on the economic issues on issues of human rights but of course also on the mental issues and that is the global about that at least in the past when it comes to the human rights

situation so is that really effective it is a fact of the question as it is maybe not enough effective project is going through the right direction and. really a development in the bilateral relationship and we have to continue to strengthen also the attention on the human rights but he was just come up with a very. policy towards china recently schoolboy china make a rival and with alternative forms of governance you feel that's going too far why well i wouldn't always call this assertive because some powers in europe really have an admiration for the chinese state system i wouldn't go that far but i also don't want to be naive so i really want to point out that there are real challenges regarding china i really need to break up this public forum and markets china need to respect copyrights and to stop forcing this technology transfer that european companies face in europe those are challenges but those challenges don't

mean that we need to turn away from global cooperation that we need to start closing or selves to work towards the open markets because the openness and the freedom of markets that europe always showed in the past is exactly what made you great and we should maintain this openness towards all partners in the future would you say would you agree with saying strong terms of rivals well i think also what you said at the entrance that china and europe we have to work together in multilateral for like the united nations because we have a high risk time yeah base our common policies on the rule of law and the rules based order and i think china could do much more now china is expanding in the united nations feels a lot of when the u.s. pulled out but i think there's a lack of conditioning it also on human rights protection and i think now we have

five you member states in the security council to permanent the nonpermanent and still china should be more cooperative for example to refer severe human rights cases like in myanmar the case of the international criminal court. or the human rights council itself to find opportunities to work together but do you agree with the term systemic rivals are we rivals or are we partners well i think we are partners i think the term is i don't agree with what the terminology rival is very limited to being a rival on the economic market i see the european union also as a political entity and there should we should refine our hurting and seek opportunities to work together by all at the same time critiquing where we have different for example different values. professor who. says that his rivals at an economic sense with china but would you argue that china is also has political

aspirations of dominance through its various projects within the playing divide and rule within the e.u. through projects like the belgian gold initiative i think there was a lot of misunderstanding about the chinese one but well you know the usual teves you need if you. really consider the situation for me the chinese. new. indeed december strategy towards united states could use a reaction to the americans even to egypt so the chinese government didn't want it to go directly into front confrontation too nice a deal developing strategy to go with indeed to despair and turned to the european countries with the idea. the second their first one is to find

a new way to create a new market for china's economy the second is to avoid a direct confrontation. the last one is to find a way to give chinese society some new possibility to give areas. which is a totally separated from the globalization new chance. quantum you could development . project to somehow misreading and misunderstand you from what. do you feel like the project is misunderstood because i understand india is not participating at all indeed categorically refusing to participate because they have a completely different understanding one belt one road there is a sort of things and i think the terminology to make a right will is a good one i think you out of stocks need to talks trying to now be pamby china they need to come up upfront and stand up for what they believe in you can't have

economic leading you by the nose so that all your values are surrendered you have to emphasize human values beyond human rights which of the you why you. don't vote because we believe or is not looking out for other country's interests political strategic and economic and we do not want the world to become kind of a stimulus package for the chinese economy. and which also he's talking about ambassador thing is saying one should not namby pamby china that the e.u. has come up with its own asia or europe connectivity package do you think that is your. board of the one belt one good initiative i would say that is. should but here we have to find channels to to combine these different plans etc because i would not agree totally with you but i would say that this rivalry

understanding is just describing more than only economic rivals it is a way of how we are treating each other and that is a term from the cold war times and that means we are completing each other. to. one economically politically etc that i think is leading if you are looking into the global challenge into the wrong direction if for example one point four billion people in china want to live their way of. living or one point three million a billion in india and one more billion and other asian countries so what does it mean for resources what does it mean for the energy production what does it mean for the climate so yeah i think we have really obligation to find channels to cooperate and i would welcome that in europe participating in these different plans and we'll talk about that more later about india's india's role in that but i think

it's safe to say that of course china is much more involved nowadays in europe not only on the fringes but in the european union as well than it was in the past we prepared to tweet from that because greece is one of the countries where there was a lot of investment chinese investment in the last years and this tweet is from alexis tsipras the greek prime minister i think we have that and it says meeting with the chinese president xi jinping is a bridge between east and west china and the e.u. now this. is a couple of years old but it is well it's more relevant than ever it seems and wouldn't you say professor that some people in europe could feel threatened by chinese activity as of late i think the definitive perception of the chinese threat is understandable. because of two reasons the first one is we have people living in european countries you have no experience with

a country which is on the floor of the communist party with tremendous new power resources going into the continent new freedom you know nobody has you kiran the second one is misunderstanding because why you got chinese d. do you have the feeling. just come to you. only with a computer with a new project to work with you to good why are you aware. of what our. people christian discussion in china are also term trouble with. few chinese project. shoe demand for big bridge connecting. with the chinese. are you calling me a project no to. i'm trying not really do you agree with that because there is

a lot of concern in the about china's influence not just within europe at the eastern europe you have the sixteen point one initiative release has now joined the sixteen plus one initiative seventeen plus one did in fact europe all these countries in the into the arms of the chinese because the. countries like greece not giving them money was a member sell the assets to willing buyers like china. i would. agree with you in one point i think china. openly used its influence and its economic ties for example with greece and condition it two years ago and because you depend on our economic aid or support you have not to vote to critique china in the human rights council and this kind of policy is very rational that the european side critiques this because the european union can be only strong in

a multilateral fora if we speak with one voice and this was a clear take split. and i think this china should seek different forms to engage and to work together by strengthening and not weakening the human rights and if i may we shouldn't be scared of our own shadow europe is the biggest global economy we are the biggest trading block of the world we are the biggest export partner of china and we should respect ourselves with this position this is the only bit to be more assertive to sit around the table with china and i'm not scared of these investments in the in the balkans and so on because recent projects have clearly shown that china fails to deliver a lot of time you know i mean you know with the power plants in montenegro with the road building so this country also understand that china has major difficulties. applying the european rules regarding procurement better and it just for example

with the knowledge you transfer in the last two years you know what we see for example with the project in montenegro with the roads that really make the complexity of the local regions and i think the type of collaboration will never replace european union but it can work complimentary in certain cases but we should really look and respect our own position on a global level and not be scared of our own shadow and we want the big concerns head off like it is that when china is investing some of these eastern europe in both investing in critical infrastructure and in countries which have actually limited financial resources creating what people feel is a debt trap so these companies then have a certain dependency on china which wiley's this is exactly where we need to really assertive policy and we are doing that recently made the foreign direct investment screen system where the european union provides a framework where member states can really screen foreign investments and this will

temper china's china's eagerness to invest in strategic sectors so this. really shows that we can play an. equal level field and if we stay in this global position then we can work together with china from a europe's point of of perspective shape the world in a grow ball trading system with fair rules and open trade i think what i call the namby pamby approach i mean you see you really can't be serious on the back it says china is not following global rules china is taking advantage of the weakness of current globalization and stepping in the beautiful issue of globalization i don't think that what do you about european investment rules they are about it not even so much about the deck to create the art trying to export the are we out of economic trouble you do the domestic chinese you are trying to export to different parts of the world but this is what dangerous to us. what this is something i

really. do believe that the chinese government. certainly china has a lot of things to improve certainly. with the government of the chinese people especially depriving a company if they go out to two european countries they do try to play with the game with the rules of the w.t. or the majority i want to say that so the second point i want to make is please respect respect the super in decision power of the european countries and the companies people doing business with china we cannot afford to underestimate the conscious decision made by different european countries. and by small eastern european countries zuckerman decision you don't mind they're ok but you there's no reason for you to criticize him for them to cooperate with china because

it took a little tan. and do you tell him government that they do have the interest and they do exactly know what did they are doing and they did do to the chinese under cherry plain after the global rule of law so i believe we have to separate our own opinion and if the reality happens in the reality how much will you want to add something to that i've wondered that some of the problems you're just discussing are of who made if you community are carrying out for decades already know it is a story key policy cutting down and saving etc so then the countries have no chance to invest to find money for for the development of their own economies so and then i would not fear that investment coming from china or from india or from the united states or somewhere it's also our only source and that not only be private.

private capital it must be also the states who are obliged to develop their own economies and here is saying we have. to change the agenda so if you really want to do business social and. environmental challenges we have to invest together and i would stop this thinking and one against the other novi have a common obligation and here i think really that we should develop a new strategy in the global understanding and and to interfere into the way of how the economic systems and structures are functioning so we've talked a lot about how europeans feel about chinese investment about the chinese role in the european union because we have the e.u. elections just around the corner i would like to know from. two people in your country know it all that there are you will actions absolutely maybe even then what are their expectations. different a trillion dollar european question has been your question in chinese is the

discourse of political in the economy is good because because of the two reasons the first one is as you just mentioned your pin you were one of the big sister single market charlie. social life jobs. somehow depend on the. economy the situation you've been contradicted and the point is much more important because the majority of the chinese think tanks and destroyed it did believe. we need a stronger plus a poor in stable european union. harrop. president for example was a wash and towards washington so they do believe we have to do every scene to keep their religion to the country. stable so do i have do you have a good twist to see how do your opinion parliament work you spewed a lot of people are very worried about priest because they believe if to you or to

britain move out of you can you see which is the bigger bigger german chancellor angela merkel and to do with it future economy comparable cooperation and china will be the. pattern or in terms of the fighter of the remaining of a multinational isman song they do have an interest to look at the start of the european elections. peter you've been on the continent a lot in asia. do you do you bring this two things together sometimes the elections and this region you know so much about you so interested in well of course you see the asean countries they look carefully how the european union is developing connectivity and to work together and so they don't understand sometimes and they're disappointed that we destroy the european union from itself because the

gains by working together are obvious and that is i feel. and i also think when they look for example asean countries to china and the influence in the region it is again that there is no i wouldn't say hostility but still demanding from china please strengthen our rules based order like the conflict real severe conflict in the south china sea where. conflict could develop then learning could how what is the european position but also referring to the court's decision actually that china should also accept the legal decision to go for being atomic very important topic obviously but just get back to the one point where do you feel you will actions really matter in the region and on what topic. well i think if you see in the building up of. the european elections all those

parties will have a clear racist policy against migrants and foreignness not so much against asians if they would come also against asians this boris them because our in the center of the european union is also that we are kind of value driven that a human being has its dignity and should not be violated for look me in this probably isn't understanding of that in the euro. union such extreme right wings can gain so much this is very worrisome. even you talk about human rights and about protecting rights of people like you and the readers in china the muslim minority their people off an. appliance double standards if they have an economic interest in a country suddenly human rights don't matter like for example in china they sometimes it's not often but in a country like me and mark where there's not much economic stake you suddenly they jump on the human rights issue would you agree with that no i disagree and also i

hear different voices from asia it depends if you listen to government voices or civil society and human rights organizations which there are plenty of in that region i think the e.u. is too soft when they talk with china for example last week we had a summit not magically not micro not more green is a thing in a critique and there are many human rights violations and i think this is a critique we should be of union but i think it's not only because of if there's an . economic interest. because also in myanmar there's a lot of economic interest by the european union to this market but the size of the violations was. huge professor who i have good news for you because after the criticism we had from the towards china you will be able to give it back in

a second because as we can see china is a difficult topic also because of the human rights situation we won't have complete agreement here but there is an alternative maybe in asia which is india india is a big democracy india to become the most populous country overtake china but you know what am i talking about let's just watch this movie. india the world's biggest democracy and foes destroying large economy the country is thriving and matching the global play of british folk local challenges. the e.u. is india's first trading partner but they both want deeper cooperation in key areas . museums were faced with the same global challenges. such as china its renewable energy and security. democratic india is jealous said illicitly to the e.u. in china they would see natural positives but the relationship hasn't taken off

line. it's time for the free trade agreement between. european union. to conditions are right and the only ones to conditions are right. the e.u. and india are both strong supporters of a global order based on multilateralism and shared values and is now how it's promising but easier in india relations so far from tapping their full potential secret ingredient is missing to help take this relationship to the next level. and that is a question i'm going to put to you and that's negotiating watch secret ingredient is missing to bring europe and india into a level of partnership that would become in zero eight with their natural proclivities what a democracy is not a honeymoon couple of the more india at your level but to be in there and you know that we are a middle aged couple we need to adapt ourselves to

a long battery life and we need to see how our grandchildren are going to inherit this therefore i think your group needs to pick up and stop looking at small important but small single minded activities and look at the broad swath of a partnership with india for instance. treat the tree did nothing without investment do nothing but we have held up the india you bilateral trade agreement for years can frankly in an italian marines i mean there will not countries who do so we need a much bigger approach. also this would be some new spock's how about an educational partnership how about a scientific and technological partnership how about a partnership where we bring change to the world and gives people the common values that we must look at beyond security and treat sound sensible with the packers and

i have a different approach because i think where the partnership really holds is a lack of ambition in your sight we already negotiating about the free trade agreements with india for almost more than ten years and it's india who fails to deliver commitments to open its markets to show commitments regarding sustainable development and labor policies this is not from europe sites we want to invest we want to go there but now you see them go back into this new flagship from india the made in india program and i think that if we would be able to attract european investment into india that would be a benefit for a beneficiary for both sides investment for europe could bring economic engine growth could be job creation in india so this would actually be in this program of made in india but the lack of ambition mission is not from europe but in india that we should think you have come up with a new strategy for india do you share. that pockets news that.

this position is also understands that. because i think to some both positions and so of course india is a must also is a chance for india to get the development on its own if you're looking for food and food guaranteeing for everybody in such a continent as india and of course they have the right to look. in the national approach to do this all of the other hand i would say we have to look into developing the multilateral trading system instead. only looking into bilateral agreements with china we are just negotiating already also for six years investment protection agreement which is a huge agreement and where we meet you should include trade of sustainable development shop that must be also realized in such a free trade agreement with was india but that means we have to understand what are

the rules what are the standards for that and this we have to develop within the beauty was system because the w.t. who is changing its its nature today and in the twenty first century and the second or third decade already so we have climate social issues human rights political stability to be also benchmarks for shipping was twenty eight because street is today about production and consumption but already there is trouble as you mentioned sort of with alcoholic beverages i believe it was also risky because of because of the united kingdom might get easier. if you had some concrete requests that you would like to form a way towards india what's that well as i see it i think india has very good structures and lost on human rights constitution and so on the biggest problem is in the implementation in the huge disparity between rich and many many very poor

and how to overcome this and i think when every european union is planning and going further to do a free trade agreement they have to do is human rights impact assessment first because i remember when i think it was also when he traveled to india actually he traveled to china and stopped and he made a public press conference and said over to free trade agreement now all the initiatives dealing with for example the right to health they looked into what would this mean if european companies produce expensive pharmaceutical medicine on each i read in india then the market for those indian company. who produce it cheaper is lost and then what about the poor people so all these issues i think i would have. you feel more comfortable with the trading partner of the you than with china that is the question i cannot answer because i think it's the wrong question because i think if what is best for the people in the respective countries or

region and trade is not perceived good. i would say that in china the problem is that the government does not tolerate critique and is very strong and strict against minorities this week we will have risen lucian on the weaker situation again in india and both countries i have to say that enormous progress in fighting poverty which is the essential number one in india it is more easier because the government seems a little bit more relaxed with the critique but the biggest problem is there in the implementation i think that's also the main issue which drives elections in fact you know the us been talking for a long time by building closer relations with india a strategic partnership which they already have talked about turning common principles into common interests in fact let me just read out

a quote from this was. back in two thousand and seventeen i'm more convinced than ever that india and the e.u. become. beacons of democracy and tolerance and must shape the words together and in the new policies and strategies statement just come out in the new talk about the e.u. welcoming a multi. professor go how do you feel about this concept of multipolar because the other regional rival for india in the region in asia and china will do her remark to provide. structure construction in terms of us. security. development. in asia east asia anasazi to india china japan and another country did do they are very. independent so european countries are talking about. partnership for what

i think for european countries maybe the idea is to create a new venue a community against a possible return. correlation between russia and the china maybe this is going to going to stretch to a partnership to india to move to reform the country or more direction of. me so i have definite. expectation of brass or of of a friend to wars. since to be true to quick don't forget india has began the economy the reform twenty years later than china about ninety at the beginning of the ninety's that means there is a lot of a bureaucratic. to be removed and there is the water with

while the implication while the implementation has gone very very slow so. i do believe you can petition of european countries a totally post-modern country towards india and china the correct arise there by. turned. of patients you know we need more time when you more time in european given for china and also for india so there is a gap between the two levers of development where after q do you believe that the exit could be that. would work in favor of you having to the times within certainly not because you. it was always a big partner and that was always in favor of free markets open markets and this is a partner we might lose so this will have a big impact and as a european union we need to be way more assertive towards these trading partners but something that is often left out of this debate is that

a strong global position actually starts which are all your own internal the size of an us and if we sit across the table with trading partners and they see that in europe we have huge internal debts that we have a very weak immigration policy that we always hesitate to face or terror threats we need to show the world that we can face or own challenges we need to show that we can handle our own threats and this is how we can be a strong partner on the global level and also gain more respect. maybe with a little heavier a little addition here because what you just mentioned of course is important how does india feel about let's say the threat of more and more populous coming into the european parliament with the upcoming elections does that play a role. i think it must pardon me on that india's believe with all elections and the same day by the way twenty third is. not right now i don't think we have too much of other people's elections but all elections are important because you will

get. off the human mind and more fully the human mind the better the articulation so yes the results will do your opinion lection really help us to form what he calls two words the european union but don't expect india to give all the gains of the w two you know movement into the climate change support into becoming support of the globalisation. of an agreement with the european union we're just not going to do it we need your help to prove those gains not use them now i think he made them. back it makes an interesting point i think india and europe need to work together on security cooperation in dealing with nontraditional traits we have done it in piracy we need to do more on terrorism we need to do it on illegal migration we need to do don't drugs and we need to do it on cybersecurity and on money

laundering these are the real treat your borders don't matter here we just need european understanding and on the ground operation i think this year i have seen much more positive european reaction of the many members in the security council that you mentioned in support of these range you're talking about security had mutual shows in the news that even the e.u. they want to have closer defense ties with india this talk about joint military exercises there's talk about having military envoys in india and vice versa do you think europe needs to be a little more assertive in terms of how security the asia pacific region know fully disagree with this position because there's just misleading so if you're put in a bubble of people she said that you should judge also the human rights situation from the perspective of citizens and not only from the functioning of the state of

the system and i think if you're speaking about security issues etc we have to first of all to deal with the social equal chances for everybody in our society. because that the you know of going into poverty which is one of the stimulus for the right populist parties here in the you can unions. can only be taken if you are developing economies or societies opening your chances for everybody also for women which is alone and taking care of both her child or the man who is going to shoot so i mean this is a problem and you will be seeing you have to organize a cooperation between india and you can union between china and your opinion or taking other countries of the asian continent for trying to interfere with japan we agreed to include the quiet progress of data protection regulations and laws of the

opinion as a benchmark also for the buy a little cooperation in the three suspects and i think this could be also an example for the cooperation of china if you're dealing with the investment community we've had some fascinating insights to learn would not be want to have maxim fun and games yes i hope it's fun for everybody so you only get to answer with one word for the following i think we have two questions and the first one is what are you looking for in the outcome of the e.u. elections which part of the e.u. elections are you really looking at the best support to globalization. respect the rule of law democratization reinforcement offer much in a recent safety and competitiveness ok have more children will stand alone because he was the only one who gave no one would have a second question to you finish the sentence your hope and asia. partners in global cooperation need each other to over a problem develop complicates a common future time to have an equal playing field. need and

support each other hounded had a hand in hand thank you very much and specimen i think it's great to have all the few on this is why dream thing a discussion about you election then why they should matter to asia thank you very much and one of you wherever you might be listening to maxwell fun and me thank you very much for your company it was great to have you with us and of course stick around in the next months or weeks actually because like i said in the beginning the new world actions are just around the corner and we hope to see you there on t.w. when we cover this important event for the european union. sachs

making. raring to. if there is any product it's remember you have to find it between the lines skip. the streets. when water starts. like force or. bottle he's a dangerous. floods and droughts climate change become the main driver of mass migration you can write any kind of peace not if you want and probably most of them to come to. the clinic exodus starts people thirty s on t w.

this is d w news alive from the tonight america's moeller moment the much anticipated results of the investigation into russian interference in the twenty six thousand presidential election has been made public and it delivers a mixed verdict clearing the truck campaign of colluding with moscow but not of illegally obstructing the investigation the president claims he's been vindicated but the report tells a different story also on the show tonight press freedom.