Definition: In this task, you're given a statement and three sentences as choices. Your job is to determine the neutral choice based on your inference from the statement and your commonsense knowledge. The neutral choice is a sentence that neither agrees nor disagrees with the statement. Indicate your answer as '1', '2', or '3', corresponding to the choice number of the selected sentence. If sentence X agrees with sentence Y, one's correctness follows from the other one. If sentence X disagrees with sentence Y, they can not be correct at the same time.
Input: Statement: The merchants wanted to divert trade away from the Arabs, fearing the enrichment of the North African Maghreb as a threat to Christian Europe. Choices: 1. Developing the North African Maghreb could endanger a Christian Europe. 2. The Arabs intended to seize the trade routes with Christian Europe, in order to establish a monopoly. 3. The merchants' fears were silenced, as the Arabs were willing buy their products at competitive prices.

3