China's Role in the
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This presentation was prepared by Mrs. Helga Zepp LaRouche, founder and Chairwoman of the Schiller Institute, for the Forum on the US-China Relationship and the Peaceful Reunification of China and read to the audience by Mrs. Leni Rubinstein. The forum was sponsored by the Institute of Sino-Strategic Studies and held in Los Angeles, California on November 24, 2007.
Through a system of globalization oriented exclusively to profit maximization, so many grave injustices, and such an immense gap between rich and poor have been created, that one can only wonder, how is it possible that so many representatives of leading institutions could believe that this could simply continue forever. But the beneficiaries of this Casino Economy, the billionaires and millionaires, still seem to be fanatically for the chaos and destruction which their own privileges have brought to the broader part of humanity. But, perhaps their indifference is only the result of the unrestrained brutalization of our society, clearly seen in those violent video games and the Internet, which are marketed to us as entertainment.
Nonetheless, the illusion of a virtual reality of perpetual profits has been in these days shattered with a roar. The systemic collapse of the global financial system has entered its end phase. Now, it is time to remember, that the Chinese character for crisis, simultaneously also means chance. Although till even recently it seemed to be as if international financial institutions were more powerful than even governments, now it becomes clear, that the alternatives are only those between worldwide chaos, or the establishment of a New Financial Architecture. And be it, that in times of calm affairs it seems almost impossible to implement fundamental changes, suddenly, great transformations are possible, as it becomes clear that the current path absolutely doesn't work.
What we must now put on the agenda, is a real vision for the 21st Century, a system of peace that makes possible the survival of all people and nations on this planet and that adheres to the inalienable rights of humanity. And, we must act with passion, for the civilization of all humanity is in danger, the rich heritage of our Forefathers, but also the life and happiness of future generations.
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As the COMECON and Warsaw Pact began to disintegrate between 1989-1991, there was also then a chance to intervene in history. Lyndon LaRouche and the Schiller Institute proposed at that time the building of the Eurasian Landbridge, that is, the idea to link the population and industry centers of Europe to those of Asia, through so-called infrastructure corridors. With the disappearance of the Iron Curtain, there was no longer any grounds not to integrate economically and infrastructurally the Eurasian continent, and through the construction of the corridors, to create the same basic economic conditions for the long isolated landlocked regions of Eurasia, that previously had only existed for countries along oceans and rivers. For a long time this program was only an idea that we presented at enumerable conferences and seminars.
In the Spring of 1996, this author was one of the speakers at a conference in Beijing on this theme in which representatives of 34 nations participated. The Chinese government declared the development of the Eurasian Landbridge as a strategic long-term Perspective till the year 2010, and began to realize various parts. But, there were many setbacks, from the so-called Asian Crisis of 1997/98, to geopolitical obstacles of various types.
It is an irony of history, that it is probably the unilateralism of the Bush-Cheney Administration which can take credit, that many of the Eurasian nations came faster together than would have been the case under normal conditions. This goes in particular for the Strategic Partnership between China, Russia, and India. But also many other projects of our original concept of the Eurasian Landbridge are in various stages of implementation.
Thus, here is to mention the joyful process of economic cooperation between North Korea and South Korea, whose progress above all China and Russia have assisted, and with which the two main railroad lines of the Koreas will be connected with the Trans-Siberian Railroad and the main railroad lines in the south of China. Also of strategic importance, is the largely Russia-pushed project to extend the Trans Siberia RR through a 6000 kilometer rail line and a 100 kilometer tunnel under the Bering Straits with Alaska, Canada, and the rest of the U.S., a rail connection that eventually will include Chile. One could mention here other ambitious projects that also under normal conditions would be built.
 Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. |
But, in view of the rapidly escalating systemic collapse, it is necessary to emphatically and more consciously place on the agenda, that the development of the Eurasian Landbridge must be the cornerstone for rebuilding the world economy. A means of implementation could be calling a Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly, or, the convening of a summit at the level of heads of state, to take on this question. It is not only necessary to call into being the New Bretton Woods system proposed by Lyndon LaRouche, but also an economic development program must be decided upon, to which the new financial architecture will be applied.
 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
For this there are definite historical precedents that can be drawn upon for assistance. The obvious example is the policy of the New Deal, set into motion by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and with which America of the day was led out of the Depression. Also the Marshall Plan for the rebuilding of Germany had important conceptual roots in the Roosevelt economic policy. It is important, for example, that President Putin, on the occasion of the celebrations for the 125th birthday of FDR, spoke of the necessity of a New Deal for Russia. Similarly, President Kirchner proposed a New Deal for Argentina, and the same demand has surfaced in many other countries.
What is now necessary is a New Deal for the whole world. The unrestrained free trade of globalization has created around the planet, with few exceptions, conditions where the circumstances of life have gotten worse, if not impossible, for the majority of the population. And I believe, though China till now has understood herself more as Middle Kingdom, than as a world power, nonetheless, in view of China's Confucian tradition, she is conscious of her universal responsibility to help make possible the harmonic development of all nations on this planet.
Develop Africa!
I would like in this context to focus attention on Africa. In the coming, existentially necessary, new definition of the principles upon which a new just world economic order must be based, a New Deal for Africa is a litmus test. For, a new order, which does not remove the consequences of five hundred years of colonialism, slave trade, and exploitation, can not function, because it will not remove the inherently moral problem imbedded within the present globalization. As China is till now the sole nation which has helped Africa, without hypocritical conditionalities but in mutual interest, in the development of industry and infrastructure, China can thus play an important role in bringing Africa into a world development plan.
A glimpse of a map makes clear that as a precondition for real development, Africa needs infrastructure, including a continental transportation system comparable to Europe's, with a railroad network from north to south, and from east to west, integrated with a highway and road network, and canal systems. The Omega Plan of Senegalese President Wade and the Renaissance Plan of South African President Mbeki, which led to NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development) certainly go in the right direction. But, the lack of adequate financing of even NEPAD, makes clear that a more ambitious effort is necessary.
Africa represents, with her good 700 million human beings, 12% of the world population, but has only 2% of world energy consumption. A large part of the population has neither access to clean water, nor electricity, nor minimal medical care. When humane conditions of life are to be created in Africa, then there must be a serious commitment to overcome the underdevelopment of the continent in the forseeable future; that means, it must be a crash program for the development of infrastructure, agriculture and industry. China has been exemplary in its efforts to teach African students and upgrade the skills of workers, in the sending of agricultural experts and engineers, the building of schools and hospitals, and the cancellation of debts.
In order to seriously conquer the gap in development, it is necessary to dispose of the axioms of globalization, and to return to the idea of a Development Decade, as was self-evident in the 1950s and 60s. As such, all the concepts, like sustainable development, appropriate technology, population control, etc., are but Orwellian doublespeak for the dictate that the African nations never should depart from the status of being raw materials producers.
We must stop treating the Africa states as if they were the youngest child in a family of many children, who are obligated to always wear the used clothes of their older siblings. But we have to understand that Africa in the coming international division of labor, in the context of a New Just Economic Order, will be leading in certain areas in avant-guard technologies.
The fact that China and South Africa both have built the advanced model of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor is the best proof for the correctness of this thesis. If South Africa realizes her intention, to build the PBMR for export for all the nations of Africa, and not merely for itself, it will give a dramatic impulse to the productivity of the economy, even more than electricity had. The transition to a hydrogen economy, the production of synthetic natural gas, the production of fuel out of coal or refinery waste, process heat for refineries or chemical factories, desalination of large quantities of salt water, make clear, that Africa has the potential in the forseeable future, to stand equal with the community of nations. Pebble Bed Modular Reactor
Lyndon LaRouche proposed in his book about the next fifty years of our planet, that the imbalances between the most different states, could be overcome by a multilateral web of treaties, by means of which the currently less-developed states would have available long-term credit lines, which would only be repaid when the capacity to do so has been created. If Africa is supported now in bringing its infrastructure, agriculture, and industry up to modern levels, it has the potential to be a breadbasket for the world, supplying long-term, guaranteed food security to countries with limited usable land, like China.
In certain circles in Europe and the U.S. there is a certain consternation about China's economic activity in Africa. But what counts, is that the African nations are happy that in return for selling raw materials, they receive real support for their own infrastructure and economic development. And by the way, Europe and the USA are perfectly free, in a similar way, to cooperate economically with Africa.
When there is success in the next period to put the proposal for a new financial architecture of Lyndon LaRouche on the agenda, then it becomes an absolutely realistic perspective, to extend the Eurasian Landbridge over corridors, via Egypt, and over tunnels and bridges, to Africa. And why shouldn't it be possible to go with the Transrapid from Chile through the Bering Straits, over Russia and China to Indonesia, or over Egypt to the Cape of Good Hope?
If we come to agreement on the common goals of humanity, and understand, the national interest, is above all realizable in harmony with those of other peoples, then, we can not only become master of the current storm on the finance markets, overcome the threatening chaos with a rational system, but also, bring into being a new epoch for Mankind.
