By Klaus Segbers (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-28 07:15

Relations between Germany and China are quite good. There are no really difficult political problems bilaterally; economic and cultural relations are developing in a positive way and the numbers of tourists and students traveling between the countries are increasing. Alas, this is not enough in a rapidly changing world. We have to do better, and we can.

Both Europe and China find themselves in a rapidly changing world. We are facing a new, emerging landscape of global politics. The East-West conflict and its logic are gone, as is the bipolar world. The nation state-based Westphalian system is coming to an end. Governments are not the only players in the global town anymore. This is a big conceptual challenge for decision-makers, journalists and researchers. We are living in a world where the old-style navigation systems are not producing much guidance anymore.

This new international configuration is characterized by opportunities and risks. Let's first look at the opportunities and prospects. Communication between states, societies and people is becoming more intense and productive. Information about internal and external developments is quickly available everywhere - no one can claim not to have known.

The life patterns of individuals are also being shaped as they look at the lives of people living in other societies. Education is probably becoming the most relevant resource of the 21st century, and is available to more people than ever before. The fight against health risks and poverty is not yet won, but it is producing achievements. Inter- and transnational institutions are continuing to expand and exert their influence, despite the skepticism of some governments.

Worldwide, individuals are increasingly shaping their own futures.

At the same time, there are risks in these global times that neither China nor Germany can ignore. The incidence of asymmetrical conflicts - non-state actors attacking states (and the other way around) - seems to be increasing.

Global-scale terrorism, fueled by different goals and by too much media attention, does not seem to be receding. Meanwhile, some forms of capital flows remain volatile and are beyond effective political control, as we have all seen with the recent crisis of the housing mortgage sector, which quickly spread to financial markets worldwide.

Climate change and its effects are producing headlines in the media, but remain beyond political control. International institutions, while numerically on the increase, do sometimes fail to yield effective regulation. Political processes look increasingly slow compared to accelerated economic, social and cultural changes.

This is our common context, and China, Germany and Europe have very similar interests and positions here. These are good preconditions for developing joint policy strategies.

Now let's have a look at some fields of common interests.

Both countries are significantly dependent on imports of energy resources. But traditional non-renewable energy resources are getting scarce. Instead of competing for oil and gas at affordable prices and thereby sometimes stabilizing unpleasant regimes, we should jointly develop strategies and means for energy-saving technologies and for renewable energy sources. This would be a big, future-oriented project.

Both countries have a historical pattern for pursuing their respective interests via cooperation and integration. Instead of searching for isolated "I need and want" - solutions and becoming assertive, they rather look for rules and tools in institutional contexts through which they can pursue interests constructively. Given the indivisible nature of many global problems, we should develop and expand this pattern.

China as well as Germany and Europe want to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). This is not to prevent other countries from getting more voice and influence, but to strictly limit access and use of very dangerous and destructive weapons. The easier it is to produce and move such weapons, the less easy it will be for the international community to monitor them, and WMDs may end up on the hands of terrorist groups.

Like the rest of the world, China and Europe are facing a very complex international configuration. While the United States is certainly still the relatively most influential country, its strength and ability to shape political and economic developments worldwide is declining. The question here is not if this is good or bad, but how to manage this relative decline without endangering stability. Here, Europe and China can do a lot more, through a more fine-tuned cooperation.

Both societies have a tradition of building and maintaining secular models for their interactions and rules. This is indispensable when we have to integrate culturally different communities. Only a robust secularism can effectively cope with fundamentalisms of all kinds. This is one area where we can do a lot more in terms of best practice exchanges.

The future trajectories of China and Germany are dependent on a major development of human capital and human resources. This represents a particularly high potential for effective cooperation. In the natural sciences, medicine, humanities and particularly in social sciences, we have to better use our potentials.

Joint research projects, learning programs and graduate schools have to be developed. The exchange of students and researchers is increasing, but we can do more here. New 21st-century teaching methods, such as e-learning and blended learning, must be exploited. Right now I am running a summer school on global politics together with Shanghai's Fudan University - an ongoing project. This, I think, improves mutual understanding.

Our countries are aging. Reproduction rates are low. While the reasons may be different, the results are similar. This requires difficult and, at times, painful adaptations of social security systems and the "generational contract". Life work cycles and career patterns are changing. Educational techniques have to be fine-tuned to meet the new requirements.

Finally, China and Germany are both transformational societies. China started its changes in 1978, Germany - after unification - in 1990. Our societies and political systems have to cope with these challenges. But this dynamic also gives us important assets - we learned, and still are learning, how to manage rapid economic, social and cultural (and political, in Germany) changes.

So there is a broad agenda for the future. Neither China nor Germany have the time to lay back and rest. We do not have the luxury of losing time. Because bilateral relations are smooth, we must turn to other urgent challenges.

The author is a professor at the Institute for East European Studies Department for Political and Social Sciences at the Free University, Berlin

(China Daily 08/28/2007 page11)