"We are facing a new form of cold war, which is not based on ideological confrontation, but on a game of power and influence in the world", said the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Josep Piqué at presentation . Center for Global Affairs & Strategic Studies of the University of Navarra.

Josep Piqué referred to the growing weight of countries such as China, India and Russia in world hegemony and their desire to unite the power that has been concentrated in the United States since the Second World War. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, enemies and adversaries emerged: international terrorism, rebel states, the return of the old empires," the former minister pointed out. The West is in relative decline demographically, economically, commercially, politically and even militarily.

At the meeting, 'El pulso geopolítico y el factor demográfico', which was held at the campus of the University of Navarra in Madrid, Josep Piqué discussed, in conversation with the publisher of The Diplomat in Spain, Luis Ayllón, the current situation in Venezuela and the United Kingdom and the challenges facing China and Russia in their relations with the Western powers.

In reference letter to the status that Venezuela is going through, he assured that "we are going to attend to dramatic moments", some of which, he indicated, we are already experiencing: tension, looting, violence and fatalities: "There is a serious risk of civil confrontation and a growing divisionwithin society".

A division that the European Union is also experiencing in the face of Brexit, which, according to Josep Piqué, has shown that "history can go backwards". Among other factors, he warned, the EU has "clear adversaries who seek to weaken it". Russia, abroad, and populism, in "our societies", as "they question Europe as a political project , its basic principles and want a return of borders".

In the same vein, he said that the next European elections "are going to be the most important elections we are going to have in a long time, because we run the serious risk of having a European Parliament that does not have a clear majority of pro-European signatures".

▲ Josep Piqué and Luis Ayllón, publisher of The Diplomat in Spain

China, a technological powerhouse

"China has been the most important country in the world for millennia", said Josep Piqué, author of 'El mundo que nos viene', during lecture. This is how he referred to the predominant role that this country has played throughout history, only interrupted for 150 years by the Western invasion of its politics and borders.

However, with the "long-term strategy deadline" developed by the government of the People's Republic of China, its president, Xi Jinping, aims to regain its place as an economic power and consolidate its position as the leading technological power. It is more difficult for us to establish a similar strategy," the former minister lamented. In the face of digital strategies, we seem to respond in an analogue way.

The struggle between China, the USA and Russia

The demographic challenges facing China, Russia and the USA were analysed at roundtable, with the participation of Dolores López, professor at the University of Navarra, specialising in Human Geography; Colonel José Pardo de Santayana, head of area of research of the IEEE; and director of Global Affairs, Emili J. Blasco.

Thus, while China and Russia respectively face an ageing population and the lack of economic reform to improve their demographic problem, experts pointed out that the US sample has a demographic advantage related to immigration.

The US challenge , in this sense, is "the growth of minorities", which, Emili J. Blasco pointed out, "will not be a problem for the internal stability of the country, but may influence the subject of policies that are developed".

▲ From left to right, Emili J. Blasco, Dolores López, Colonel José Pardo de Santayana and Luis Ayllón.

Global Affairs & Strategic Studies

Global Affairs & Strategic Studies purpose was born in Degree at International Office of the University of Navarra with the aim of becoming a think tank of reference letter in the field of geopolitics, from its double mission statement: the strategic analysis of what is happening on the international scene, oriented to the prospection and implementation of policies, and the training of new generations of experts and relevant actors in this field.

Global Affairs disseminates the work of research on the web, through the monthly Newsletter, its Twitter account (@GlobalAffairsUN) and the annual Journal, which was launched during the event 'The Geopolitical Pulse and the Demographic Factor'.