The Era of the Political and Economic Dream of the West is coming to an end, said the former Prime Minister of Great Britain (1997-2007) Tony Blair, who made a lecture organized by the British-American Ditcli Foundation. Blair pointed to Russia’s actions in Ukraine and China’s growth as a “second superpowers” in the world.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the growth of the influence of China clearly show that the West can no longer count on the norms of international law as a global restraining factor, Blair believes.
According to Blair, the West needs to increase defense costs in order to maintain its military superiority, and at the same time develop “soft power” through establishing ties with developing countries.
The ex-Prime Minister of Britain called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “cruel and unjustified” and indicated that it became a feature, after which it can no longer be expected from the large world powers of observing the adopted international norms, which granted something.
Blair believes that “the largest geopolitical changes in this century will provoke China, not Russia. The end of Western dominance in politics and economics is approaching … For the first time in modern history, the East may be equal with the West.”
According to Blair, China “is already the second largest superpower in the world,” and its economic potential and the degree of involvement in the world economy are even higher than that of Russia.
Blair does not believe that China will try to capture Taiwan by force in the near future, but emphasizes that it is more impossible to build a policy on the belief that this will not happen.
He believes that in the near future, Russia will probably become an ally of China, and possibly Iran. Blair urged to build relationships with the PRC on the principle of “strength plus involvement.”
According to Blair, the West must increase military expenses and remain strong enough to resist China with any scenario in the future, while maintaining ties with Beijing, behaving pragmatic, but not aggressive, and demonstrating readiness for mutual investigative relations.