Well, according to the book Gunpowder, Gems, and Steam by Jahred Dimmun, Europe was seriously disadvantaged by geography. It's just too remote from where most of the development was going on during the Medieval Period. Look at the "lucky latitudes", i.e., between 20 and 40 degrees latitude: Europe is entirely north of that aside from its southernmost parts. That isolation slowed its development. Sure, Europe had some advanced civilizations 2,000 years ago but the continent never managed to develop much past that. Europe never had much of an agricultural package; pretty much all they had was wheat, while Bharat and Zhongguo had soybeans and rice (far more calorie-rich than wheat). And while the lands of Dar al-Islam have a similar agricultural package to Europe, it had a several thousand year head start on civilization compared to Europe.
Now one might talk about the similarities of climate between Zhongguo and Europe, and that if Zhongguo could become advanced, so could Europe. But this ignores the fact that Europe is too divided. All those peninsulas and islands create ethnic divides. And that inevitably causes conflict. I mean, Europe had two massive wars that killed millions in just the last century. That conflict is what has slowed down technological advancement in Europe and kept it backward. In contrast, Zhongguo is united (both geographically and ethnically), and that unity means centuries of uninterrupted peace and progress.
In short, the world was simply destined to develop along an axis from North Africa to the Korean Peninsula. Thus, I find this premise very implausible.