With the introduction of the new US administration

Interview .. German Foreign Minister: The return of the United States to the international stage will change many things

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

EPA

Since relations between Germany and the United States remained tense during the era of the outgoing President, Donald Trump, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas expressed in an interview with the newspaper "Der Spiegel" his hopes for improving the atmosphere during the era of US President-elect Joe Biden. Challenges posed by China, the Middle East, and the Russian pipeline project.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

You and your French counterpart called for a "New Deal" across the Atlantic, and that sounds good, but what exactly does that mean?

- The return of the United States to the international scene will change a lot of things, because we are adopting a cooperative approach together, and Europe and the United States need to work closely together and strategically cooperate again, and we cannot leave a vacuum again, as is the case in Libya or Syria for example. Example, it is filled in by Russia or Turkey.

We Europeans are ready to play our role in ensuring peace, democracy and human rights in alliance with the United States.

What concrete offerings are you making for the new leadership in the United States?

Europe has developed common capabilities, and we want to further strengthen the European pillar in the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). For the sake of a balanced partnership with the United States, we must clearly define our regional policy interests with the United States, what is our common position towards China or Iran, and how we live up to our responsibilities in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The hope now of a return to the previous period would be illusory. The United States will not return to the role of a global police force.

The German security policy problem can be seen very clearly in Afghanistan, what will happen if Donald Trump fulfills his promise and returns half of the American forces to the homeland before January 20?

The United States takes on many tasks in Afghanistan that make it easy to deploy all other soldiers from participating countries, for example, combat aircraft to defend against attacks, or helicopters that provide support to soldiers who are ambushed.

If the United States unilaterally withdrew such essential forces, it could endanger the safety of all other soldiers in the country.

China remains the dominant issue in transatlantic relations ... To what extent will the competition between Beijing and Washington determine the future world order?

And where will Europe find itself?

As for Europe, China is an economic partner on the one hand and a systematic competitor on the other hand.

Washington is a close partner with whom we share basic values, and if the United States and Europe now come together again and devise a common strategy, this will provide completely different opportunities to talk with China not only about trade and economic issues, but also about human rights.

- Even if things change in the Biden era, central conflicts remain, for example the dispute over the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline ... To what extent does this matter hang over your hopes for a close partnership?

There are a few differences of opinion between Republicans and Democrats on this issue, but also the new administration and discussion on it will help us make progress on this issue.

• "We cannot leave a vacuum again, as is the case in Libya or Syria, for example, that will be filled by Russia or Turkey."

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